Domination and Discrimination
With boardrooms dominated by males, most bosses are men defining the rules of labour market entry. Wages can be seen as grudge expenses that must be closely controlled and limited. Without organisational policy to specifically shape how power is controlled so that actions are fair, employers make decisions to benefit organisations and bolster profits, not workers.
Advertising without a pay range means employers could be bargain-hunting for desperate humans. Pay secrecy is a sure way to flush out those who are not as easily dominated and isolate those who can be coerced into accepting a safely measured offer (unfair pay).
Women are more likely to be unemployed and underpaid when employed.
Let’s face it, employers do us a massive favor when hiring us! As a result of establishing businesses and creating jobs, employers are entitled to decide how much to pay and who should be hired. They deserve these freedoms because without them, society is screwed, right?
Is Income Inequality Male Power?
Society has a right to distributive and information justice, yet most job adverts, essential labour market signals attracting workers and establishing effective mechanisms for labour market inclusion, are not transparent about pay.
Job adverts specifying information about a salary range attract more applicants and allow society to engage with rational wage information about firms and workers.
Under Apartheid, privileged white males enjoyed an unrivalled sense of superiority over society. Their norms and values shaped the rest of us for lives of vassalage.
White men controlled the distribution of wealth and censored information accordingly. Women and Black people were not equals, but props and pawns in labour markets.
Men Still Take a Lot
Apartheid is over?
Income inequality targets are predominantly Black people and women.
#BlackLivesMatter fails to impact business and annual Women’s Day / Month campaigns do little to challenge organized inequality.
Below is a screenshot of a Takealot job application form posted beneath the job advert. We’ve published the unabridged advert here.
The advert was not upfront about pay which means jobseekers must apply without knowing how much the firm is willing to offer.
Bully Power = Inequality
The more power employers have to bully, the more inequality we can expect.
Employer bullies cause incalculable damage to women and their right to self determine by forcing them to submit to wage surveillance and an oppressive wage negotiation culture.
When wage offers are based on previous pay, income inequality can prevail. Disclosing confidential wage information gives employers unfair negotiating advantages.
Employers publicly bully jobseekers into vulnerable, submissive wage negotiating positions to accept less pay.
When researching Takealot compensation, one soon discovers they aren’t transparent about wages, making it difficult for candidates to establish what a likely salary range is for a role.
Women and Black people still bear the brunt of wage discrimination. Apartheid economics thrives on.
When privileged white males in positions of power, such as Takelot’s CEO Kim Reid, are not upfront about pay, it suggests they remain racist and sexist, avoiding distributive justice and unwilling to pay women and Black people fairly.
Reid assumes a position of superiority when forcing job applicants to subjugate their human rights and disclose current salary, pay expectations and employer pay slips while he enforces wage secrecy.
It is highly unlikely jobseekers willingly divulge their wage details and doubtful that Reid would do the same if the roles were reversed.
Secrecy is Discriminatory
Clandestine employers abuse positions of power, discouraging women in particular from applying as it suggests wage discrimination.
Women and Black people are paid less in South Africa, and when forced to apply to employers using wage surveillance during recruitment, they are more likely to remain unfairly paid.
Let’s have your say!
