Tim Worstall

She lives hundreds of miles into the countryside, thousands of miles above sea-level
I don’t think so Sonny, I really don’t think so.
Thousands of feet possibly, thousands of metres even but not miles.
One thousand miles above sea level is near the upper bound of low earth orbit….
As to the rest of it, well, difficult to [...]

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One of the points that we economically rational people keep trying to make is that at least part of the gender pay gap comes from the fact that men and women (on average of course) seek different things from their jobs. Women might value flexibility over simple pay for example.
Women often work in the public [...]

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This story is all over the place:
And once the extra time women spend shopping and in the bathroom is added to the leisure hours count, British men have only ten minutes’ more spare time a day than women.
The figures come from an international analysis of how we use our leisure time by the Organisation for [...]

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Yes, that was lovely, the earth moved for me too dear.
Now get in the kitchen and make me a sammich.

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Research by the Fawcett Society has found that women working full time earn, on average, 17% less than men: 83p per male pound.
Not only is that unfair, it is illegal.
Bit of a blunder really, eh?
For a start, the law says absolutely nothing at all about the legality or not of a difference [...]

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Fashion Election Special: Sarah vs Samantha
Their husbands are preparing to slug it out at the ballot box, but which of the first ladies of British politics will top the glamour polls?

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A massive extension of maternity leave across Europe was last night voted for by the Womens’ Rights Committee of the European Parliament to make it compulsory for employers to pay mothers for a minimum of 20 weeks on full pay.
You couldn’t find a better way to do it really.
Increase the [...]

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WHEN Yitta Schwartz died last month at 93, she left behind 15 children, more than 200 grandchildren and so many great- and great-great-grandchildren that, by her family’s count, she could claim perhaps 2,000 living descendants.
Doin’ it right rilly.

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FEMINIST Labour MP Harriet Harman is in line for the annual Rear of the Year award.
Yes, yes, yes.
You can add to the gaiety of the nation by nominating or voting here.
Pass it along folks. Let’s make this thing happen.

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No, not in favour of it but what does that matter?
What I will be very interested to see is whether this is true:
The Fawcett Society, which campaigns for equality between men and women, welcomed the move. Ceri Goddard, the chief executive, said: “There is a huge appetite among fathers [...]

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She’s been doing some research into why men use prostitutes. One point stands out:
Discovering the women were ­trafficked, pimped or otherwise coerced would appear not to be so ­effective. Almost half said they ­believed that most women in prostitution are victims of pimps…..
The presence of a pimp does not indicate either victimisation or coercion. A [...]

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Newsweek recently noted that worldwide, women’s income is expected to grow by more than $5 trillion by 2013, thanks to rising female employment and a narrowing pay gap: most household spend is already controlled by women,
Interesting point all too often overlooked.
Women do indeed, on average, earn less than men. Yet they control the majority of [...]

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A hugely important initiative:
Labour MP: ban shops from selling ‘sexist’ pink toys to little girls
No, really, it is vital:
“Since the early 1990s manufacturers and retailers of children’s products have fabricated restrictive boundaries of what it is to be a girl in today’s society.
“As a result body image obsession begins [...]

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GIVING women a lengthy period of maternity leave could mean they miss out on highflying jobs, a new study has revealed.
The findings from three continents show that the more family-friendly a country tries to be, the less its women succeed in the workplace.
I’ve been pointing this out to people for years.
British women fare better on [...]

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The average female board director took home £178,246 in salary, bonuses, benefits and pension contributions in the 2008-09 financial year, while the average male director received £357,358.
So they’re getting 66% of men’s pay, or 50% less than men.
I think we can all draw up the list of the usual [...]

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The BMA is getting het up about pay differences between male and female doctors.
The study examined the pay of 1,015 doctors working for the NHS, in medical research at academic institutions, and for organisations such as private healthcare providers. While part of the pay gap is due to age and experience, between 40% and 50% [...]

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Here’s how the gender pay gap should be measured:
In future, ONS will highlight the following measures:
• All female employees’ median pay compared with all male
employees’ median pay
• Female full-time employees’ median pay compared with male
full-time employees’ median pay
• Female part-time employees’ median pay compared with male
part-time employees’ median pay
The fuller report is here.
And those numbers [...]

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Weird that this very good (for a change) Gaby Hinsliff piece should be her last as Observer political editor.
Long but worth reading.
It’s a very good description of why there are so few women at the very top. The compromises that have to be made to get there simply aren’t palatable to many women.
(Perhaps I should [...]

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Well, I suppose that there’s glory in being copied. The Adam Smith Insitute has for years been calculating Tax Freedom Day. The day when we start working for ourselves having paid off the exactions of the State. So the Fawcett Society is copying that idea over the gender pay gap.
Today is the day when women [...]

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Women who do not have children should be allowed to take maternity leave, allowing them time off from the workplace, according to a study.
Why would it be only women who would be aloowed to take a sabbatical?

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