Equal Pay for Equal Play

Now, I'm a pretty liberal guy. I believe in the equality of things. A black man must have the same chances as a white man. An American Indian woman should have the same opportunities as a white woman. A man on crutches, or sick of the palsey should be paid the same as a healthy man assuming the work is done and time put in.

If I had the palsey, I'd be pretty sick of it, too....

And a woman should have the same pay as a man.

So long as they are doing the same amount of work!

Equal Pay is an issue in the job place, I understand that. But it isn't always a black and white issue (no pun intended). If a woman who joins a company wishes to have equal pay to a man who has been with the company for ten years, is that right? I would understand the differential in pay, even if they are in the same relative position. You reward loyalty. Or the man started out at a certain amount of money and has received pay raises for exemplary performance.

Say Jimbo Smith works a thirty hour week. He can't quite be there for forty hours because he has a second job.

Say Jane Eyre has a forty an hour a week job doing the same thing as Jimbo. She doesn't have a second job, because the effort she has to put out for this job is too much.

Say they both get the same amount of work done, they both reach the same goals.

Does Jimbo deserve to get paid as much as Jane? Remember, Jimbo is making money at a second job at ten hours a week. So he is getting paid there as well.

I think he deserves 3/4 of what she is getting. Equal Pay for equal work. He works 30 hours, he gets paid for the same thirty hours she does, then she gets paid for those extra ten hours she works.

I'm all for Jimbo asking to work another ten hours at the job, and then getting paid to work those hours, thereby reaching the same pay rate as Jane.

So why is Wimbledon succumbing to public pressure and paying the women the same as the men? Trust me, I love tennis and appreciate what goes on on the women's side moreso then the men's side. But until the women play best of five sets, I don't see the argument.

The women are obviously very fit. How come they can't play the best of 5 sets? Well over the majority of the women are physically ok to play their singles matches and then go on and play doubles matches as well. So they have plenty of energy apparently. So the women are supplementing their income with more tournament play in the doubles areas, but wish to also be paid the same in the singles arena as the men.

If anything the women should complain that their physical abilities aren't being respected enough by having them play only best of 3 sets.

Anyone who pays attention to tennis knows that in the lesser tournaments (non Grand Slam) they all play best of 3 sets, men and women. They receive equal pay in those events.

Am I missing something? Someone explain this to me like I am a three year old...

My apologies for the Rowan Atkinson joke in the beginning, and the 'Philadelphia' reference at the end there...I'm a little rusty coming back to the blog.