EDITORIAL
LOUISE FENNER-SOLOMON | PUBLISHER
OUR TEAM
PUBLISHER / ADVERTISING
Louise Fenner-Solomon
082 572 4707
[email protected]
PUBLISHER / DESIGN
Peter Fenner-Solomon
082 521 3916
[email protected]
A
s someone working on the periphery of the Built Environment sector
I come into contact with many professional men and women in the
course of publishing every issue of Architect and Builder. Whilst
aware of the worldwide movement towards exposing and rectifying
gender pay gaps I never really considered that pay gaps may occur
amongst our own South African firms. I personally have never knowingly been paid
less for performing the same job as a man but then how was I ever to know if salaries
are not public knowledge?
ACCOUNTS
Peter Fenner-Solomon
082 521 3916
[email protected]
I was quite surprised that Boogertman + Partners recently revealed that they paid
19% less an hour to their female as they did to their male staff. This announcement
came about as a result of their response to on-line Architectural magazine Dezeen’s
Move the Needle initative. Using a simple online calculator the results showed the
firm a surprising disparity in salaries. As a result of this, Boogertman + Partners has
made the commitment to tackle its gender pay gap. "Boogertman + Partners saw
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Move the Needle not only as an opportunity to publicly commit to change as an
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industry leader, but also as a chance to bring local challenges to the ongoing debate
on a global level," the firm wrote in a statement. I applaud Boogertman’s commitment
to addressing this issue and hope that their openness will encourage other firms to
take a serious look into their own remuneration scales for men and women. It seems
to me that these disparities are often not knowingly engineered, but rather situations
such as a woman returning after maternity leave causing her to get ‘lost’ in the
remuneration system and miss out on an increase her colleagues would have received
during her absence.
Hopefully other firms will have a serious look at their own pay disparities and, if
they exist, act immediately to ensure equal pay for equal work.
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TELEPHONE 082 572 4707
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www.archibuild.co.za
THE 2017 SAPOA PROPERTY
PUBLICATION OF THE YEAR
Editorial