As a young woman, who has been working since the age of fifteen, it is safe to say I have had my fair share of experience (so far) of working under the minimum wage rules. One thing I’ve never been able to get my head around is being paid less, purely because you are a little bit younger that someone else that does the exact same job as you, and sometimes, someone that does not do that job as well as you do. In fact, it is nothing more than frustrating, and once again discrimination.
I am used to hearing about the goals feminism has achieved in gaining equal and fair pay for women under the Equal Pay Act of 1970, which states that it is ‘An Act to prevent discrimination, as regards terms and conditions of employment, between men and women’. There is a law to protect women against discrimination in the work place, and to ensure that they are paid equally for doing the same job as men, so why is there not a law that protects those under 21, and under 18, and ensures that we get paid the same as someone over 21 that does the EXACT same job as we do?
I am not claiming that minimum wage is a bad thing, I know that minimum wage is there to protect us from being paid virtually nothing in the work place, and it does protect workers rights to an extent, but in my opinion, it also damages them. Imagine if you were a school leaver, between the ages of 16 and 18 and the most you could earn an hour to support yourself was £5.03 an hour, if you were over 18, but under 20, and £3.72 an hour if you were under 18. It isn’t exactly a liveable wage. If you worked 40 hours a week, at the rate of £3.72 an hour, you would earn £595.20 a month - before tax. Again, that is not exactly a liveable wage.
I have had a good few jobs, and I have been quite lucky in my jobs. Working for big companies, sometimes means that you are in luck - for example, my current job pays equally for everyone - purely based on the reason that we all do the same job, and therefore deserve to be paid equally. However, in my previous job, I was getting paid minimum wage for an 18-20 year old £5.03 an hour, and someone a few months older than me, doing the same job as me, was getting paid £6.31 an hour. Which is not quite frankly, not fair. I think that discriminating because of age, in terms of pay, is just as bad as discriminating because of gender. Discrimination is described as 'the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex.’ that effectively says it all. On the government website, which you can look up via a link below, it claims that ‘the law protects you against discrimination at work, including:…pay’. Am I the only person who does not see us being ‘protected by the law against discrimination’ in terms of pay?
Instead of raising the minimum rage by 12 pence or whatever they wish to raise it by, for each individual age - why not just put us all at earning £6.31 an hour? I do not see why would that be so unfair especially if we are all doing exactly the same job. I understand that if you have been in a job for a few years and get paid a certain amount and some kid comes in and begins to earn the same that it could be frustrating, but if they are doing the same job you are, why not? Fair is fair after all.
