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A fair platform for women academics
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati addressed the obvious competence gap in which women are always found as an underdeveloped group despite their actual potential.
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Female to male professorship is at a concerning 1:10 ratio. Even for those exclusive 10 percent, the management ladder is a tough battle they can rarely win. (Shutterstock/File)
T
he gender pay gap has reached Hollywood. At the Academy Awards, for instance, a number of actresses have revealed in their victory speech that they earn significantly less than their male co-stars for exactly equal roles.
While the gender pay gap is real, the general root of the problem — the gap in competence and productivity between genders — should be dealt with comprehensively. To say that women are less competent and productive than their male colleagues may sound like a discouraging statement that put women further in a disadvantaged position.
Yet, it is necessary to fully comprehend this fact before relevant authorities can act to close the gap.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati spoke at the GE Women’s Network Luncheon on April 13 in Jakarta about inequality faced by career women. As expressed in her Facebook post regarding the event, the minister did not talk about the pay gap.
She instead addressed the obvious competence gap in which women are always found as an underdeveloped group despite their actual potential.
The main problem is due largely to women’s limited choices in balancing career and family life.
The competence gap does not mean that women are inherently less competent than men. Instead, it is more a matter of earning greater privileges and opportunities to improve their competence and, thus, their paycheck.
