University Lecturer

New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 360, 17 May 1946, Page 6

University Lecturer

"LJNDER the present social and economic set-up I’m definitely not in favour of equal pay for equal work,"

said L. S. Hearnshaw, Lecturer in Psychology, Victoria University College. "I don’t say that on the ground of differences between the sexes-I think the sexes are more or less equally endowed, and some women are superior to men, while some men are superior to women, in particular ways. For instance, in general men are better at mathematics and women are better at languages, and fine manual dexterity and so on; and then, of course, there’s the difference in ordinary physical strength, but I. think these. differences simply indicate that people should have jobs that suit them. It’s when we come to the social side, and consider the worker’s responsibilities, that the difficulties arise. I must say I’m completely unconvinced by some of the arguments about women with dependants that have been brought up by those who favour equal pay. I don’t say there’s been any deliberate attempt to mislead, but I do think there’s a big difference between those whom we regard as a man’s dependants and those whose income is supplemented by a contribution from a single woman’s salary. I saw figures which treated the two things as if they were the same, and they left me unconvinced. "Another thing is that I think the incentives against marriage would be very great if marriage meant halving the in-come-as it would if men and women received equal pay and then were faced with accepting only one salary after marriage. I don’t think work after marriage is a practical thing for a woman except purely as a temporary measure, and I think it will remain impracticable until we can get some fully organised system of domestic assistance. "I advocate equal pay for equal work with heavy deductions from the earnings for single workers, plus a really adequate system of family allowances. But at present I think we’ve got to insist that the male has vastly greater responsibilities. If we merely established a@ principle of equal pay for equal work, there would be very undesirable consequences, which would strike at the basis of the family and that’s the most important social unit."