Is Jeremy Vine really worth six times as much as Samira Ahmed? Or is it that women in their 50s are routinely paid less than men?
Most people are more interested in a woman’s thigh gap than the pay gap. Equal pay? Oh, not again – that’s as dull as talking about pensions. Most of us would rather die. But if we haven’t actually died, then, unfortunately, we have to live on something.
Women’s relationship with money is still somehow considered embarrassing by society. Young women write confessionals full of masochism and the world is fascinated by these unspoken desires, which are part of our romantic ideology. Older women talk about being poorer and duped out of their pensions and it’s considered a bit icky. To talk of money, in any personal way, is taboo – actually, dirty. Having too much or too little – both of these states are used to disqualify women from talking openly. We are too demanding. Always.
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