It's mainly caught by older males who think they're somehow superior to woman, who they believe need to be subservient to the status quo.
You might be aware that New Zealand has a serious problem with sexual discrimination, which is what Thompson is professing.
Pay disparity is a significant part of the sexual discrimination formula, with women earning on average 13% less than men. As the head of the Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA), Alasdair Thompson should know better than to try and justify that inequality. Earlier this week he told Newstalk ZB:
"There's a gender pay gap, but people only need to look at who takes the most sick days, as to the reason for it. Women's productivity, in general, is lower than men's and while women might be more productive on an hourly basis, some take sick days when they get their period.
Once a month they have sick problems. Not all women, but some do. They have children, they have to take time off to go home and take leave. I don't like saying this because it sounds like I'm sexist but it's a fact of life."Speaking to ONE News about the interview Thompson also said that:
"Many women at some point in their life take more leave. Not just sick leave, they take maternity leave. There are other things which I mentioned, which I don't want to mention again, because that's the cause of the problem."Thompson later issued an EMA statement attempting to clarify what he meant:
"We believe in and promote advancement of women in the workplace and in business. It should not matter if a man or a woman is off work on sick leave more than others if their output is high they should be paid highly."Thompson had earlier stated:
"The statistics about pay inequality don't address the facts. The payroll tells the true story, not statistics. It is unfortunate but men and women are different. I don't like saying this, this is how contentious this is. Here's a fact of life... look at who takes the most sick leave," he said.It's not unfortunate that Men and Women are different. As a country, we need to move forward and start to celebrate our differences. If what Thompson states is true, and woman are more productive on an hourly basis, why are they being paid less?
"I am sure women do take more time off to look after children - they do the lion's share of caring work - but to suggest they deserve to be paid less for doing so, or because they are having 'monthly sick days' is shameful," she said.Catherine Delahunty said his comments were "utterly out of date, sexist, and inappropriate" and she said it was concerning the Government received business advice from him:
"I am kind of tired that we should have to listen to this kind of rhetoric when we are trying to have a mature and modern debate about a long term problem," she told NZPA.Council of Trade Unions president Helen Kelly said Mr Thompson should stand down.
"Leaders spouting this sort of crap makes it very, very difficult for women to assert themselves and to suggest there might be discrimination," she said.
Thompson doesn't intend to resign though, arrogant in his sexist old man syndrome. By trying to justify pay disparity, Thompson shows himself to be a bigot! In my opinion, there should be no acceptance of such divisive behaviour and he should step down.
I would like to discontinue the weekly Asshole Award, however when dinosaurs like Alasdair Thompson keep putting their hands up and going "I'm an Asshole, look at me," I'm obliged to award them accordingly.
