Introduction
Business women in the office (By Andrea Piacquadio from pexels.com )
Decent work depends on a job market that provides equal opportunity and equal treatment for all. However, the global gender wage gap is around 20%. In many situations, despite the fact that women perform the same occupation as a man, their salary is lower, even if they have an equal education level or even higher than men (UN, 2019). On the other hand, young people in the beginning of their careers may also face discrimination with low paid jobs.
Globally, one in five young people are NEET (Not in employment, education or training). Many of these young people may even be contributing to the unpaid market, especially young women (e.g. unpaid internships) (ILO, 2020). Within this context, many young people prefer to work in a low-paid job than to be unemployed. However wages are not always low. Young people who specialize in more technological professions may even receive higher wages than adults with many years of experience.
Given this context, this activity proposes a simulation game to confront people with the realities of the labour market. This session adresses issues relative to different wages for the same job, discrimination in the workplace based on age and gender and policies of low pay for young workers.
Learning Objectives
- The learner understands the concept of gender, gender equality and gender discrimination and knows about forms of gender discrimination and inequality (unequal employment opportunities and pay), and understands the current and historical causes of gender
- The learner knows the opportunities and benefits provided by full gender equality and participation in legislation and governance, including the labour market
- The learner is able to recognize and question the traditional perception of gender roles in a critical approach, while respecting cultural sensitivity
- The learner is able to identify and speak up against all forms of gender discrimination and debate the benefits of full empowerment of all genders
- The learner is able to observe and identify gender discrimination
- The learner is able to evaluate, participate in and influence decision-making about gender equality and participation
- Normative competency
- Collaboration competency
- Critical thinking competency
Instructions
Step 1) Introduction (10 minutes)
- Start the session explaining the scope of the project or the educational process in question. The SDG 5 refers to gender equality – show the short video to introduce the SDG from resources section.
- Briefly introduce the SDG through a short introductory reflection based on the vídeo:
Gender equality is a fundamental human right and it is a transversal issue crucial to build a healthy society, leave the poverty cycle, and ensure quality education for all. Gender equality means that everyone is equally valued and that their needs, goals, and behaviours are considered equally. Men and women are different in their biology, but everyone should be free to develop, make their choices, and participate in the decision-making process in their communities.
Step 2) Simulation Game (30 minutes)
1. Explain to the participants that they are workers and have to do some work for their employer (you!). They should not worry; everyone will be paid. You don't agree with slavery!
2. Hand out the labels at random, one to each participant.
3. Explain the task and make sure everyone knows what they have to do.
4. Let people get on with the work!
5. When the tasks are all completed, ask people to queue up to be paid. Pay each person according to their age and sex as laid out in the list of workers' wage rates in the resources section. You should count the money out aloud so everyone can hear and all are aware of how much each of the others is getting (as an alternative to money, you can give chocolates or candies or say that you will give some extra points in the next assessment test, in a proportion that reflects the differences of each character)
6. If participants start to question or complain, give brief "reasons", but avoid being drawn into discussion.
7. You will have to use your own judgement about how far to go, but stop when you believe it is beginning to get too heated! Give everyone time to calm down and to get out of role, and then sit in a circle for the debriefing.
Step 3) Debriefing and Evaluation (20 minutes)
Take the discussion in stages. Start with a review of the simulation itself:
- How did it feel to receive more (or less) than other workers even though everyone did exactly the same task?
- Why did some people receive more (or less) than others? What were the criteria?
- How did it feel to get more than others? How did it feel to get less than others?
- Does this sort of discrimination happen in places of work in your country or community?
Next, talk about remuneration on the basis of sex:
- Can different pay for the same job, when done by a man and a woman, be justified? Why? Why not? When?
- What if a man does the job better than a woman? Is that reason enough for paying the woman less?
- If a man is more qualified than the woman, does it follow that he should be paid more?
- Do you think that there are jobs that should be done exclusively by men? Why? Why not? If yes, which jobs?
- Do you think that there are jobs that should be done exclusively by women? Why? Why not? If yes, which jobs?
Finally, go on to talk about remuneration on the basis of age:
- Is there a policy for different wages on the basis of age in your country? If not, do you think there should be?
- What is the rationale for applying this kind of policy, especially in the case of young people?
- What do you think about this type of policy? Is it good? Bad? Necessary? Unnecessary? Give reasons.
- Which human rights have been violated or are at stake in the activity?
- How can people claim these rights?
- CALL TO ACTION 1
In many situations, women earn less than men for the same work. Pay inequality persists everywhere. Voice your support for equal pay for equal work. Do a diagnosis of this reality in your country. Develop an online campaign with some facts about this: In what professions and scholarly level do women earn less? What are the causes? What people can do to reduce these inequalities?
- CALL TO ACTION 2
Make interviews to women with management positions in the public and/or private sectors in order to know about their history, the challenges they had to overcome in order to reach the position where they are and the advice they give to young women and young people in general who are going to enter the market of work. Ask a tutor for help with the interview guide. You can make a short documentary or other journalistic piece. Publicize the results in your school and on social networks.
Notes for Educators
Estimated Total Duration: 1 hour + Call to Action
Preparation
- This activity is possible to develop with a minimum of 6 students.
- Prepare the labels. These should state only the sex and age of the workers. Use the list of workers' wage rates for reference in resources section.
- Think of a concrete task that participants can do, better if related to the field of vocational training studies. Collect together any equipment or materials that they will need in order to do the work.
Tips for Educators
If you need to add or to delete some workers from the list, make sure that you still have a balance of sexes and people of different ages. If the group is large or if you want to get into a deeper discussion about the two different types of discrimination, it is a good idea to sub-divide the group into two groups. Then one group can take the task of discussing discrimination on the grounds of sex and the other discrimination on the grounds of age.
What sorts of tasks are suitable for this activity? It should be exactly the same task for every worker. Also try to choose something that can be done by several people at the same time, so it does not become tedious for people to wait and watch. Think about the following:
- If you want to go outdoors, can it be done during the season of the year?
- Do you have the space?
- Can it be done equally easily and well by people of different ages and by both men and women?
- Is it safe?
- Will people feel embarrassed or refuse on ethical grounds?
- How long will it take?
- Does it require many skills?
- How can it be repeated several times over?
Examples of tasks:
- Clean the blackboard/whiteboard and neatly write a given phrase on it.
- Take books off a shelf and put them in a box. Carry the box to the other side of the room and unpack the books onto a second bookshelf.
- Make an origami (aeroplane or simple hat).
- Clean the working room or a defined area of the garden.
- Collect litter or rubbish from a defined area in the neighbourhood.
- Wash the windows of the school / building where you meet or wash the teachers' / trainers' cars!
- Collect three different types of leaves and mount them on a piece of paper.
- Look up the definition of a word and write it on a piece of paper. (If you choose different words, each relating to human rights, then at the end you may have a short glossary of terms!)
When you are paying out and have to give explanations for the different salaries, you will have to think up "reasons". They can be grounded in what actually happened or they can be ridiculous. For example:
- Someone who stumbled gets less
- Someone who smiled and looked happy gets more
- It's Friday!
Variations
Instead of the facilitator paying out the money, two participants can be the cashiers.
Depending on the task you have chosen, you can set a time limit for completion, such as in a factory. If the task is very simple, or you have fewer than six players, you could have three or four rounds, each round representing one day's work. After each round, the workers go to the bank, sign a document and get their salary for the day. Expect that some participants will quickly realise how unfair the wages are and will complain. In this case you could sack them and tell the remaining workers that they will have to work harder. Be prepared that at this point the workers may call a strike. Beware that the participants don't get carried away and be sure that you keep your sights on the original learning objectives.
If you do not feel it appropriate to do this activity as a simulation you could adapt the information to use as a basis for discussion. Make a ‘fact sheet' for each worker with information about the work they do, their age, sex and remuneration. You could also include other details such as educational background and professional experience. Alternatively, you could develop a few in-depth case studies for different workers. However, you should be aware that discussion alone will not stimulate the strong emotional response that you get through experiencing the simulation.
Further Information
Because women earn less, on average, than men, they must work longer for the same amount of pay. To illustrate this, European Equal Pay Day is observed on a Tuesday because Tuesday represents how far into the week women must work to earn what men earned the previous week.
The issues about inequality of workers' remuneration are different in different countries and also different depending on whether the issue is age or sex discrimination. Discrimination on a gender basis is nothing more than evidence of discrimination against women. Historically, women have been disadvantaged in social, political and economic spheres. Examples of discrimination against women in the workplace include discrimination during the selection and interviewing of job applicants, discrimination in relation to promotion prospects and the fact that, on average, they get lower wages than men. It is a violation of the right to fair remuneration when women receive less than men do for doing the same job.
As workers, young people should also receive fair remuneration. However, here the situation is complex and differs from country to country. In general, the unemployment rate for young people is higher than for adults.
Although the principle of equal work for equal pay is generally upheld, youth remuneration is often held to be a special case and many countries have policies that allow young workers' to be paid less than an adult for the same job. These policies are justified on two grounds. On the one hand, there is the aim to discourage young people from entering the labour marker and to encourage them to stay at school to gain a good education. On the other hand, it should still be attractive for employers to hire inexperienced and low-skilled young workers, especially the ever-increasing numbers of school drop-outs, who otherwise would be "loose on the streets", getting into trouble and being a burden on the state. The application of this kind of policy and its success in decreasing youth unemployment varies from country to country.
The European Committee of Social Rights (the implementation body of the European Social Charter) does not view low pay for young people as incompatible with the guarantee of a fair wage so long as the difference is reasonable and the gap closes quickly. For example, a wage 30% lower than the adult starting wage is seen as acceptable for fifteen to sixteen-years-olds. However, for sixteen to eighteen-year-olds, the difference may not exceed 20%.
Youth wages are not always low. In fact there are a lot of well educated young people who earn a lot of money - too much in the eyes of some people! For example, young people flourish in the sectors based on new technologies and receive far higher remuneration than older workers who are close to retirement age.
Source
COMPASS: Manual for Human Rights Education with Young People