Women paid less due to "monthly problems"

This according to the Employers & Manufacturers' Association CEO, Alasdair Thompson.

A gem from the interview on NewstalkZB this morning:

Alasdair Thompson wrote: Why do they take the most sick leave? Women do in general. Why? Because, ah, you know, once a month they have sick problems.

And here he is digging himself an even bigger hole on Campbell Live.

Yeah, this could go in the "In the News" section of Oh Baby but I felt outraged enough to put it in General.

What a jackass.

Edited by Delli

so freaken disgusting!!

What was he thinking? Can see this being canon fodder for 7 Days.

I was absolutely appalled too, and I made myself angrier by reading the comments on the Herald (why did I do that to myself?!) - sadly there are people (men presumably) who agree with his sexist, outdated comments. Most people on there seem to miss the point too, the 12% pay differentiation is between men and women who do EXACTLY the SAME job. The fact that police officers are paid more than nurses is a different issue altogether. And women probably do take more time off to look after sick kids as they are paid less and therefore their job is valued less - so it is cyclic.

They should sack him - though I doubt they will - apparently it is pretty rich for him to talk about women's lack of productivity

Yes I very rarely took sick leave when I was in the workforce (didn't take any in my last job), only if I got completely knocked out with something like food poisoning; I even worked through horrid migraines. In my experience it was the men who were more likely to be off with a sports injury or a cold. Not that I want to throw stones, I have a lot of respect for my male and female colleagues alike, thank goodness the workplace has changed since Alistair was in his prime!

it would be interesting to see if women as a whole did take more sick leave than men. I have known lots of women who have used periods as a reason to have time off work so maybe that is his personal experienc. a bit bloody stupid to say so to the whole of nz though!

DH has had way more sick days than me this year - and it wasn't to look after DS! I have had 2 since I started back at work in October and both times it was to look after DS when he was ill. Have never taken one in my life for my period.

I manage a team of about 15 at work and I would say it is pretty equal with the sick days between men & women.

'bloody stupid' lol!