‘Years of experience determine salaries’

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian Employers Federation executive director Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan said salaries were decided based on years of experience, not on a job’s salary scale.

He said women may be paid less than men because men usually worked longer years.

“The length of service is very critical to a company,” he told The Star. “The pay differs on length of service with the company.”

Shamsuddin said employers were not deliberately discriminating women, adding that men usually continued to work whereas women stopped when they become mothers or to take care of aging parents.

“It’s not like in developed countries where a manager can be paid according to a certain range,” he pointed out.

However, Tenaganita director Aegile Fernandez disagreed.

She was of the opinion that salaries should be based on how well a job was done.

“The number of years shouldn’t count,” she said. “Biologically, a woman has to be a mother and she may take a short break, but that shouldn’t have an effect on her salary.”

Women Aids Organisation executive director V. Sumitra said women’s wages were often seen as lower than men’s.

“The perception is that the man is working and that the woman’s wage is seen as additional income,” she said.

Sumitra said the gender wage gap would especially affect single working mothers, who were usually the sole breadwinners.

Noting that there was a lack of analysis in the Statistics Department’s report, she said there was a “real need” to legislate gender equality laws.

Association of Women Lawyers president Meera Samanther said such laws would help women who were discriminated over working conditions.

She cited a November 2014 court case in which a teacher who was denied employment for being pregnant won a suit against the Government.

“The Government needs to address this disparity by implementing gender equality legislation so that women have recourse when they are discriminated in terms of working conditions, pay, bonuses or promotion,” she said.

news source & image credits: thestar.com.my / pixabay

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian Employers Federation executive director Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan said salaries were decided based on years of experience, not on a job’s salary scale.

He said women may be paid less than men because men usually worked longer years.

“The length of service is very critical to a company,” he told The Star. “The pay differs on length of service with the company.”

Shamsuddin said employers were not deliberately discriminating women, adding that men usually continued to work whereas women stopped when they become mothers or to take care of aging parents.

“It’s not like in developed countries where a manager can be paid according to a certain range,” he pointed out.

However, Tenaganita director Aegile Fernandez disagreed.

She was of the opinion that salaries should be based on how well a job was done.

“The number of years shouldn’t count,” she said. “Biologically, a woman has to be a mother and she may take a short break, but that shouldn’t have an effect on her salary.”

Women Aids Organisation executive director V. Sumitra said women’s wages were often seen as lower than men’s.

“The perception is that the man is working and that the woman’s wage is seen as additional income,” she said.

Sumitra said the gender wage gap would especially affect single working mothers, who were usually the sole breadwinners.

Noting that there was a lack of analysis in the Statistics Department’s report, she said there was a “real need” to legislate gender equality laws.

Association of Women Lawyers president Meera Samanther said such laws would help women who were discriminated over working conditions.

She cited a November 2014 court case in which a teacher who was denied employment for being pregnant won a suit against the Government.

“The Government needs to address this disparity by implementing gender equality legislation so that women have recourse when they are discriminated in terms of working conditions, pay, bonuses or promotion,” she said.

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