I work with men all day eeekkkk!

[lavender1]

Can you imagine having no women to gossip with at lunchtime and men just wanting to be quiet with some rabbiting female all day, sorry to moan but I sometimes feel am in wrong job? Anyone else feel like this ever.

I studied really hard at school and got my degree and then went on to have children and stopped work for 5 years and now am part-time, which suits me fine. But the truth is am getting fed up with boss who pays me the bare minimum £4.65 an hour when men who do same job get £5.30, have complained a lot but he says they are more skilled...arrrghhh! I get so cross because I have skills using brain and they are not getting used...today was moving climbers all day, was soooo bored...and ended up in toilets trying hard not to cry as so frustrated...the fact is I can do so much more than I am doing now (I get jobs which don't tax my intellectual ability), but don't know how to go about it as have been there less than 2 years, the others have been there less time but one has 13 years experience in the business and the other is 56 with all sorts of experiences.......am coming across as very negative which I am not it's just I don't want to spend my days doing the physical stuff when could do a lot more.(don't want to be too pushy with boss but want to do more....am in landscaping business btw)..anyone with similar experiences or any advice

Post long but glad to get this frustration off my chest, dh hears it a lot and didn't want to tonight, hence rant...

am thinking of deleting this post as I go on too much (everyone has these probs am sure but deal with them).

Its horrible when you are unhappy in your job so i sympathise, sorry i can't be of more help, hope it gets better
(I worked on a building site with 500 men i loved it had a really good laugh)

Most of my good mates are men actually
but maye I am just a bit weird
i am sorry that you are having such a bad time at them moment
They are not allowed to pay you a different wage if you do the same job btw......(unless they have more qualifications etc) - but if it is a purely male/female thing then they cant do it.....

thanks ff, 500 men who wouldn't I bet you weren't on minimum wage and on your own a lot...feel okay

I was in a burger van, making bacon butties, so yes!!!!!

I feel the same though lavender, i know i could use my brain alot lot more, but i haven't got a job. It is very frustrating!

I used to work for a small engineering firm that was all men. I used to be mostly on my own alot of the time and it is bit boring. Plus the men used to moan constantly about nothing

Please, I love men I really do but I don't like the way my jobs aren't valued as as important ie. I must be the least skilled otherwise the pay would be better...For the record I don't dig up trees or use hedge trimmers, but I prick out very delicate seedlings which create revenue...boss has actually told me that the other two's fingers are too stumpy! and so can't, should a tree digger be paid more because he is stronger...what about my 3 years at uni?

L1, I think it just might be worth giving the Equal Opportunities Commission a ring. Honestly.

Lavender1, isn't this the man you fancied???! Sounds like sex discrimination to me, but I am no expert. Could you not set up your own business? I am appalled at your salary - you'd earn more cleaning, and probably about the same working in McDonalds. I have an "intellectually demanding" job (ha!) which pays peanuts (more peanuts than you, admittedly), and I just don't feel inclined to put in the effort/hours they think I should do. If they paid me £5K extra p.a. I'd work harder, but as I have no promotion prospects, have no incentive to do more at present. But that's no help to you. I don't think you'd particularly want to gossip with the women I work with as they are all sour, single career women with no other topic of conversation but work :0 . The men are, on the whole, a bit more balanced.

Definately agree - call the Equal Opportunities Commission or your local law centre a call. You can issue a questionnaire to your boss to justify why you are being paid less and that initself may make him give you equal pay!

I'm a man as you might have gathered from the name.

I do feel for Lavender1. I'm an accountant and I tend to move around jobs often. I've worked for two engineering firms in the past and it was very clear that female employees were getting paid considerably less than the men. It's still a problem and a very noticable one.

I would agree with motherinferior, you should approach equal opportunities. There is no rhyme or reason to paying differently based on sex.

Thanks mumsnetters for mentioning the equal opportunities thing, I will be doing that asap...I do have one more question and would be really grateful if anyone could answer it ..

I have just recieved my new contract, which I am to read and sign and obviously discuss anything I am not happy with..on the first page there is a section Salary....it says the employer shall pay the employee £... per hour by equal monthly installments in arrears. But there is NO mention of a yearly increment or salary review based on experience gained with the business (I've been there nearly 2 years and my nursery pay has gone up by 10p!)...ie.after 2 years I have learnt a lot, am better and quicker at jobs since I started and am taking an exam to help my job in March which is going to entail a lot of revision...no provision for this....nothing against men here daddycool as I know not all are like this but is this a chauvanist or what (no other employees have a degree...doesn't that count? obviously not)..

Long message I know but am puzzled and wondering if anyone has experience on this kind of thing.

Thanks Lav

The £... per hour is actually 4.65.