Equal pay for women is a continuing debate though the end result is assumed to be obvious. It's a rather different debate and concept to the one that was had about 100 years ago in which H.B.Higgins established the basic wage as an essentially family wage, based on the needs of the average male worker who had to support an average family with average necessities. In other words it was a community/family based judgement. Clearly, we are a more individual-oriented society now. But let's assume equal pay for equal work. Should we then take into account research which says that high earning women marry/partner high earning men and low earning women marry/partner low earning men. Would such a pattern create or emphasise a wealth divide in our egalitarian society?
Nellie Melba was a high earning woman and probably earned more than any other opera singer of her day except Enrico Caruso. Not fair! The Aussie Notables version of Nellie Melba will be available in February.