"But the proportion of jobs with good conditions (non-monetary) available to women will be reduced as men will be taking them."

Who says?

You seem to think men and women are of different species. We all want the same things. Flexibility in the workplace is already evolving given men are now also taking on more family oriented chores. Remember we are all econonomic units now, stay-at-home for anyone is no longer encouraged or supported.

'You seem to think men and women are of different species. We all want the same things.'

Ah no. There are three genders. There are Men, Single Women and Mothers. All want different things from the work place.

http://www.theage.com.au/small-business/blogs/work-in-progress/the-gender-agenda-at-work-20110428-1dz6l.html

You are such a pot stirrer Houlley.

What about families which are mostly made up of men, women and children.

The family unit has needs as a whole too. The flexibility women may want is what men want as well in fulfilling those family needs. It just happens that it is women who generally juggle various responsibilities and aspire to jobs that make that task easier. This is changing a bit as men also share more of those multi-tasking wonders of modern life.

A boss wants to pay his workers as little as possible. A worker wants to pay as much as possible. That is where negotiation comes into play.

Men negotiate for better pay, and are unafraid to ask for pay rises based on tangible measurable performance.

Women don't negotiate their pay, they take what is offered. Then expect the boss to offer them a pay rise when they feel they deserve it, which is never going to happen.

Teach girls about pay negotiation in school, pay gap will disappear. Simple as that.

Scutt was a prominent 'activist' in the 1970's and 80's. She appears to have returned lately with her 1970's views of the world intact. She has been or still is a judge and it is people like her who determine how the system runs. Why is she bleating to us? If there is a problem in the workplace we should be complaining about her and her ilk who actually interpret and determine the laws of the land ,not the other way round.

If the work load and conditions are the same, then so should the pay be the same.

When the authorities start to favour one gener, 'It's to heavy for a woman to lift' or, 'women can lift up to 17 kilos and men 24 kilos', then you have an issue, otherwise, there should be equal pay for equal effort.