Plenty of people are paid unfairly compared to similar roles elsewhere, it just so happens that in this case there is a gender divide which can be used as a bargaining tool. Good luck to them I say!
Paid unfairly according to who and by what standard?
There is no gender divide in pay here. I haven't seen any evidence that woman are prevented from working in warehouses or that the reverse is true for men who want to work in retail
environments from the reporting on this law suit.
I would agree that people are perhaps placing too much emphasis on the physical processes(es) of the work involved.
Renumeration for a job involves a number of variables of which the physical processes of the job are but a minor consideration.
For example I have a family member who works half of his time on an oil rig and spends the rest of his time at home, in between helicopter commutes.
His job is in its basic mechanics is similiar to a school chef. Both provide bulk catering to a captive audience. Of course he inevitably gets paid a lot more then the average school chef because theres a far smaller pool of people willing to work in such circumstances.
I have worked in retail and in a warehouses and although certain mechanics of the job appear similiar the surrounding circumstances are anything but.
Witness the current retail Asda employment terms and conditions, which place quite an emphasis of 'flexible' working
'Greater flexibility' in work patterns for a retail food store means working more evenings, weekends and around lunch time during weekdays, all of which are somewhat more amenable to part time work and a family work life balance with supermarkets frequently located within walking distance of a suitable work force.
Conversely warehouses distributing groceries need to have a more consistent workforce (less capacity for part time work). With working hours at times often less amenable to family life. Warehouses are located more remotely then shops with more staff having to drive to them. Warehouses are not temperature controlled for the comfort of some of their occupants (unlike supermarkets), and are dirty and far more dangerous places to work then supermarkets.
I reject the fundamental notion that some judge and or bureaucrat can look at two different jobs and tell you what the respective 'worth' of each job is and what the renumeration should be for each job.
We have tried this approach in the past with socialism whereby burecarats have tried, remote from markets, to establish the comparative worth and importance of differnt jobs and goods. The results have consistently been a failure because no one person or even a group can accurately assess the almost limitless number of variables (some of which may not be immediately apparent) which determine what a market price for a good or service will be.
There is a simple rule to gauge what the salary for a job should be... A salary sufficient to hire and retain enough suitably qualified staff.
If a woman or a man wants the same wage as someone working in another job there's a simple means for then to seek to achieve this...
Namely obtain whatever qualifications and or experience are required for the job and apply for it like pretty much everyone else does.
Moderm feminist activism is little more then a shameless power grab and shakedown movement.
Equality used to be about meaning that any qualified and capable person shouldn't be discriminated against on seeking their own path on life.
Modern feminism seems to have tacitly accepted the biological reality that men and women, on average, are not equally capable in all regards and are not equally inclined to pursue the same path I life and so have now resorted to plain dishonest attempts to extort their way through life.
The knock on effects of a potentially sucessful claim in this case for the claimants would be huge and place a significant burden on the whole of the UK, ultimately negatively affecting the whole workforce including women. Businesses would have to jump through a burecratic nightmare of labyrinthian proportions to try and second guess any future claim of supposed discrimination by trying to assess the degree to which different roles withing their organisations might be deemed 'comparable' to others and hence what the 'correct' salary should be devoid of any actual consideration of what salary is needed to hire suitable staff.
The UK goverment would be well advised to put a stop to such legal uncertainty if they value the ability of uk companies to remain competitive.