New research has revealed that the gender pay gap begins earlier than most of us could have imagined: in childhood.

"This report is the product of two of our strongest passions: improving children's financial literacy skills and eroding the gender pay gap," says Helen Bierton, chief banking officer at Starling Bank, who commissioned the research.

"We've worked closely with Prof Tim Jay [who conducted the study] and his brilliant team at Loughborough University for a few years now, and one day he mentioned that parents talk to boys about money and maths from a younger age than they do to girls," she says.

"We knew there was something further to explore here - and unfortunately, our hunch was correct."

So, what exactly did they discover?

Gender inequality around money runs deep

Well firstly, Jay and his team confirmed that the gender pay gap - or the "play gap" as they're calling it - does indeed start in childhood; with boys receiving a whopping 20% more pocket money a week, on average, than girls (£3.00 v £2.50).

But worryingly, the disparity in how girls and boys are treated when it comes to money doesn't end there.

Boys are more likely to have their pocket money assessed via academic performance (14% more boys are assessed this way).

Girls, on the other hand, are more likely to receive pocket money if they have completed their chores (12%), and are more likely to be rewarded for good behaviour (6%).

Furthermore, the way boys and girls receive their pocket money is also different, with girls more likely to receive theirs in cash (15%), and boys more likely to be paid into a digital bank account and card (8%).

"The degree to which traditional gender stereotypes are at play within childhood astounded us," says Bierton.

"What starts as pennies and pounds for young girls can multiply to tens of thousands of pounds for working women."

The findings are based on two quantitative surveys of a representative sample of 4,106 parents across the UK with children aged four to 11 - and is the largest known study of its kind to date.

The results were then assessed against the respondents' children's financial literacy development to determine correlations between parents' pocket money approaches and children's skills.

In addition, the Loughborough University team also analysed the prices of 450 toys sold by retailers who segment their offering by gender - and once again found that girls were getting a raw deal.

"Products targeting girls are on average 5.48% more expensive than products aimed at boys," the team explains in its Make Pocket Money Equal report.

Adding: "A ‘pink tax' was also discovered, with pink toys and games costing an average of 5.16% more [£9.98] than those marketed as gender neutral [£9.49]."

"As a parent, it's something I've seen myself, and our research found that more than one in four parents with daughters have noticed this too," says Bierton.

"But we weren't expecting toys to cost 5% more at such a systemic level - and we weren't expecting so many retailers to segregate toys by gender either."

Does financial inequality in childhood really matter?

As a busy parent, with more than enough already on your plate, you might be wondering if this is an issue that really needs your attention - but both Bierton and Jay are clear that it is.

"The ways that children learn about money, the ways in which they receive it and how much all have an impact on their financial literacy skills," says Jay.

"An inequality of this scale, at 20%, is one that we must raise awareness of in order to help parents check any unconscious biases they may have."

"Bierton adds: "Does it matter that men earn higher wages?

"Of course it does - and pocket money is no different, and for so many reasons.

"How much less you earn affects your sense of worth. If children can earn their money in the same way, it can help to equalise their expectations for the workplace and their careers."

So that being said - what can parents do to rectify the situation? Continue reading

He is the first man appointed to the role in the 170-year history of the Catholic girls' secondary school.

Murray, pictured above with his wife Benita and their daughter Charlotte, will start his new role at St Mary's at the beginning of 2021.

The St Mary's Board of Trustees had been seeking a new principal since the retirement last January of Catherine Ryan, principal since 2013.

It will be Murray's second time at St Mary's, which teaches girls from Year 9 to Year 13.

He was a dean and assistant director of religious studies at St Mary's from 2006 to 2011.

Murray has been deputy principal of Sacred Heart Girls' College, New Plymouth, since 2011 and is currently acting principal there.

He has also taught at St Bede's College in Christchurch, Francis Douglas Memorial College in New Plymouth and several Catholic colleges in Victoria and New South Wales.

The wellington-born new principal has a BA in English and History from Victoria University of Wellington and Masters' degrees from Australian Catholic University and the University of New South Wales.

In 2013, he was seconded to develop digital resources for New Zealand's Catholic secondary schools in a project for the National Centre for Religious Studies, now part of Te Kupenga-Catholic Leadership Institute.

He has also led projects for the NZ Qualifications Authority and the Ministry of Education around the NCEA changes.

Board of Trustees chair Juli Clausen says Murray is ambitious for St Mary's.

"He is enthusiastic and passionate about leading a school that develops outstanding students," she said.

"His vision is for St Mary's to be an excellent school with great tradition but not a traditional girl's school.

He is a man of prayer, and his Catholic faith is at the core of who he is."

Source

Supplied: David McLoughlin
Communications Adviser, NZ Catholic Bishops
Te Huinga o ngâ Pîhopa Katorika o Aotearoa

In addition to the women, the only layman named to the council was Alberto Minali, a former executive at Italian insurance companies.

Statutes for the Council, which Francis approved in 2015, say the Council will have 15 members. These include eight cardinals or bishops and seven laypeople. Each person serves a five-year term.

The original seven all-male lay members had experience in business, finance or government.

The women's appointments to one of the Holy See's most important offices mark Francis's latest attempt to keep promises to improve gender balance, which women's groups have said were too slow in being realised.

So far Francis has appointed women to a variety of roles. These include a female deputy foreign minister, a female director of the Vatican Museums, and a female deputy head of the Vatican Press Office.

The six women include

• Leslie Jane Ferrar, Prince Charles's former treasurer,
• Charlotte Kreuter-Kirchhof, a German professor of law,
• Marija Kolak, president of Germany's national association of cooperative banks,
• Maria Concepcion Osacar Garaicoechea, a Spaniard and founding partner of the Azora Group and president of the Board of Azora Capital and Azora Gestion,
• Eva Castillo Sanz, former president of Merrill Lynch Spain and Portugal, and
• Ruth Maria Kelly, a former banking executive, former member of Parliament and former secretary of education in Great Britain.

In addition, he has appointed four women as councillors to the Synod of Bishops, which prepares major meetings.

Francis has also named the eight cardinals on the Council.

He has renewed German Cardinal Reinhard Marx's mandate as "cardinal coordinator" and that of South African Cardinal Wilfrid Napier.

The new cardinals and bishops named to the Council are: Cardinals Peter Erdo of Esztergom-Budapest, Hungary; Odilo Pedro Scherer of Sao Paulo; Gerald Lacroix of Quebec; Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey; Anders Arborelius of Stockholm; and Archbishop Giuseppe Petrocchi of L'Aquila, Italy.

The Council is "responsible for supervising the administrative and financial structures and activities of the dicasteries of the Roman Curia, of the institutions connected to or referring to the Holy See and of the administrations" falling under the governorate of Vatican City State.

Source

• Reuters
• UCA News
• The Wall Street Journal
• Image: The Straits Times

The Council's Women in Leadership Officer, Casper Faasala, says all of the intending candidates have gone through leadership training and will receive mentoring in the build up to the elections.

Solomon Islands is one of the worst ranked countries for female representation in parliament with only 2 women elected to parliament in 36 years of Independence; Hon Hilda Kari in the 1980s and most recently, Hon Vika Lusibaea who was elected in a by-election for her husband's seat in August 2012.

Solomon Islands has a population of approximately 590,000 people. The national Parliament has 50 members.

Elections are held every 4 years. The electoral system uses a first-past-the-post system, which has made it very difficult for women to get elected.

Source

• Radio New Zeland
• Pacific Women in Politics
• Image: National Parliament of the Solomon Islands