Discrimination? Sexism? Women paid less than men in the VI- Minimum Wage Report
The document, while its main function was to review the Virgin Islands’ minimum wage, was a comprehensive report that looked at many aspects of the territory’s labour force.
One of the interesting issues provided in the report is that women in the Virgin Islands are often paid at a lower rate than their male counterparts.
In fact, on page 15 of the Minimum Wage Advisory Committee’s Report, it stated: “a greater percentage of female workers were remunerated at minimum wage when compared to their male counters …” In other words, more women are stuck at the minimum wage of $4.00 when compared to men.
US study finds women make nearly 3 percent less than men in same jobs
Meanwhile, the issue of women earning less than men is not isolated to the Virgin Islands as, according to a report published Thursday November 5, 2015 by PayScale, women in the United States earn 2.7 percent less in wages compared to men working in similar jobs.
The report differentiates between comparing all men and women and instead looks at how they work in similar jobs. Overall, women make 78 cents on the dollar for every dollar men make, according to a national statistic from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
PayScale took into account main factors that affect how the gender pay gap is perceived, including job type, job level, compensable factors, marriage and family and unconscious bias. Salaries for males have remained higher than female salaries across the board, regardless of the varying methods of data analysis, such as age, location and leadership status, according to the report.
The study collected data from 1.4 million full-time employees through a survey that took place from July 2013 to July 2015.
A diverse workforce, the report stated, can support gender equality and lead to greater profits.
VIslanders outnumbered in work force; More Guyanese, Jamaicans & Vincentians
Another revelation of the Minimum Wage Report is that collectively locals are a minority in the work force.
The report on page 19 unearthed that Virgin Islanders “collectively are significantly outnumbered by their counterparts, especially from the Caribbean region. The largest population of migrant employees, that is just about evenly distributed, comes from Guyana, Jamaica and St Vincent….”
The report also found that more locals work for the government whereas the expat population takes better paying jobs in the private sector.
Local Minority
Virgin Islanders are already a minority in terms of population and now comes evidence that they are also outnumbered in the work force. The indigenous Virgin Islander, meaning those who can trace one or both parents and grandparents to being born in the Virgin Islands as defined by the 2007 Constitution, is already a minority and most often continues to claim discrimination, oppression and victimisation.
Following the 2011 general elections, locals have cried that their standards of living and opportunities have dropped, and they feel hopeless and also claimed that there is nowhere for them to turn for justice and fair play.
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33 Responses to “Discrimination? Sexism? Women paid less than men in the VI- Minimum Wage Report”
Everyone wants to work in an office and be paid the big bucks straight out of school. Unfortunately, that applies to those just getting out of high school with no higher education and zero experience. But even those who do have a college or university degree believe they should be handed the big paying jobs despite the fact that they have no experience.
It is time to wake up! Privately owned companies will not hire you for anything other than grass roots positions when you are straight out of school. Full stop. You then have to put in your time, pay your dues, put in the effort and PROVE that you have what it takes to DO that high paying job you want. You need to learn from the ground up, regardless of where you were born. Your mummy and daddy can't do it for you. YOU have to do it and YOU have to be motivated enough to go after it on your own.
Few indigenous people have targeted jobs in the private sector and in particular, few have seen fit to train for anything in the yacht charter industry or tourism sectors. How many indigenous people have a DEGREE in hospitality management? This includes hotel and tourism management, restaurant management, etc? Not many, I can assure you. Yet aside from the financial industry, what is our biggest sector?
We continue to moan about the young people not having opportunities whilst the young people continue to go after white collar government jobs with little to no higher education. I really don't know what any of us can possibly expect! Until we change our attitudes and our focus on education, we cannot possibly expect the labour force opportunities to improve.
How many indigenous people who CALL themselves "general contractors", actually have a bachelor's degree for construction technology and construction management? Any guesses?
If we would just start looking at what is available to us and train for those industries, PERHAPS we wouldn't be outnumbered in the private sector much longer! Until then, we can keep sucking our teeth, waving our fists at outsiders and blaming them for all our social problems while wailing the woe is me song.
WE have exactly what we created. WE are the only ones who can fix it!
Nothing surprising here.
We men are the providers!
I said MEN not BOYS!