The Next equal pay ruling is fundamentally flawed

IT IS one of the mysteries of contemporary life that sex segregation exists even when there is, in theory, no basis for it.

- Melanie McDonagh

A couple of years ago, I visited a popular and well run mail order and retail business. And what I saw was that on the customer helplines and the PR side of things, as well as the store assistants, all were women — with the exception of one young man who did social media.

When I visited the warehouse, exactly the reverse was the case. It was all men hauling big boxes around and loading wooden pallets. Yet there was no company policy to put blokes in the warehouse and the ladies behind the tills; it was just one of those gender divides which happens all by itself, probably because you need to be heftier to lift the boxes.