In London I remember the government turned a blind eye to illegal immigrants as their cheap labour was needed and helped the economy. It really is a win-win a lot of the time. The immigrants, who were breaking the law, were happy with the conditions compared to where they came from.

'It is too easy just to say market forces will win the day.'
The minimum wage is there as a safety net. As are many government handouts.

'Shouldn't we at least lift the bar a bit and ensure they are educated better and are better paid to attract more staff?'

I don't mind paying them a little bit more, I just don't see it as a gender issue. People can choose.

Just remember, as I said, attracting more staff to one profession will put the poorly qualified into a worse job they might like even less. Do you want to be like America and have university graduates waiting tables all their life? Upping the skills for the sake of it is a bit of a waste of money. Some people like their job BECAUSE they don't have to think or to do performance evaluations.

I don't think you can have people fulfilled in their job just by raising the wage for that job. People have to survive, and they will do whatever pays the best whether it is fulfilling or not. It's a trade-off. I don't think any job would fulfil me, as I don't want to work in the first place. You will always get lots of people who work to live. Living to work is the exception.

'How is it that prostitutes are considered worthy to be paid more for what they do than those caring for the sick?'

I think that's fair enough! Giving someone intimate access to your body is a big ask. I think they should be paid more. The occupational hazards are enormous too.

'there are also flexible working hours for other jobs such as the entertainment and hospitality areas that pay much better wages.'

Well, there's your answer! If women want to change the gender pay gap, they should change to these jobs. Or they could marry men who earn less than them and go back to work 6 months after each baby and tell their husband to stay home because he earns less.

But I think many women like to marry up because they know it will enable them to be the one to stay home when they have kids.

The answer is total flexibility of the workforce to allow couples to mix and match, but I think even if this occurred, you will still have a gender pay gap as more women will demand to be the primary carer and lots of men will be happy enough with this.

In my line of work there just is no such thing as part-time work. But I have the option to do a job that pays less so as to work part time. I have a family to feed and a mortgage though so I chose to be 'unfulfilled'. Tragic I know. I also have a partner I chose and I choose to let her live her dream of being the primary carer, because that's what we have negotiated as the best thing for the general happiness of the family unit. As I choose to live in my home country, and my partner chooses to accept this even though she misses her family.

See, we all have choices. Or men do anyway, all I hear is whinging from the gender pay gap whiners.

Suzeonline "Barmaids, female cops, nurses, aged care workers, female ambulance drivers, female taxi drivers, female cleaners, female fast-food staff, female shop assistants, female service station staff, and yes, prostitutes- the dirtiest job of them all."

When you are talking obout society, you need to talk about averages/typical outcomes/by-and-large/medians... Sure there are female cops and taxi drivers, but they are very rare, and only prove the good point that Houellebecq made... if women want to earn more, they CAN CHOOSE to take these more unplesant, better paying jobs. But they don't, do they?

You are also un-aware that most cleaners (perhaps the symbol of low-status work) are generally casual, migrant MEN! Casual workers are disadvantaged, poorly educated migrants are disadvantaged and MEN ARE DISADVANTAGED.

What a silly point, some men are in hospital... but less than women... women live 7 years longer than men and get to take their aged pensions 5 years earlier than men, leaving them on the taxpeyer 12 years longer than men. How fair is that? Men tend to die young and quickly, an women tend to drift away in nursing homes for years. How does this fit with your prejudices?

But most importantly, you ignore my (and Warren Farrel's) main points... In short, Men do all the dirty, dangerous and low-status jobs. Not many women work as farm laboureres, building labourers, garbage collectors...

A good illustration is when I'm on my way home after a night out, 'who do I see working at 3am?' BarMEN, Pub SecurityMEN, male taxi drivers, male cops, male garbos, male long distance truckies, male construction and road workers working for penalty rates... and prostitutes

Partimeparent <" But most importantly, you ignore my (and Warren Farrel's) main points... In short, Men do all the dirty, dangerous and low-status jobs. Not many women work as farm laboureres, building labourers, garbage collectors..."

I agree. But they get paid alot more than women doing jobs that men won't do dont they?

As Houellebecq pointed out above, women have CHOICES about what jobs they can undertake, just as men do. So why do men choose to do these jobs? Couldn't they also do the supposed 'soft' jobs usually done by women? We all know they don't because the men's jobs are paid more!

Women are often not physically strong enough to do some of the jobs mentioned above, but men should be able to work at any job, surely?
So why don't they work in aged care facilities? Because of the low wages!

Not every man lives alone, so surely there are plenty of men living with women out there who would want them to be earning more money to add to the household finances?
So why aren't we all getting together to demand better wages for women?

parttimeparent,

I like your point about women living longer than men. I think men should be pushing for the pension age to be raised to 70 for women. After all, they live 7 years longer than us so that seems only fair. Of course it will never happen though. Women only want the benfits of equality not the responsibilities.

Suzeonline:"So why do men choose to do these jobs?"

There are lots of reasons.

First, there has always been a rump of boys who are simply not academic and the dirty labouring jobs pay better than the clean ones.

Second, boys know from very early that they will be working all their lives. Girls know that they won't.

Third, there used to be countervailing dirty or hard jobs that women did in the home, like washing in the era of coppers and washboards, or cooking in the era of woodstoves. There was a reasonable and logical division of labour and men did their best to reduce the drudgery of their women The earliest applications for electricity were domestic appliances.

Fourth, the jobs need to be done and women just won't do them. I reckon that the local garbage contractor could advertise specifically for women till the cows come home and won't get a response worth mentioning.

Fifth, boys know that their familial role is as provider, especially when his female partner is doing the female thing of bearing children. That means they are much more willing to do whatever it takes to keep the money coing in. Women, especially western middle-class princesses like you, realise that the State won't allow them to starve or be too badly housed as long as they have a child to hold up for scrutiny. Men don't.

Sixth, boys and men are simply better able to cope with the dirt and muck that girls find repugnant. Perhaps that's conditioning, but i think it's biological. In traditional human environments women tend to stay near the hearth while men go off hunting or warring. It is a positive advantage to be sensitive to smells which may indicate an unhealthy condition if one is living in the same spot all the time. Not so important if one is predominantly using smell as a tool for hunting and moving on daily.

None of that is a value judgement, Suzie, unlike your own value-laden pronouncements.

The bottom line answer to your question is "becvause they don;t have to".