2 ms·

I'm trying to figure out why this article is posted, as a UK anti-discrimination bill doesn't seem to matter much to mostly-US programmers. Additionally, the l

I'm trying to figure out why this article is posted, as a UK anti-discrimination bill doesn't seem to matter much to mostly-US programmers. Additionally, the linked article is simply false; there's no proposal to raise maternity leave to 3 years, and what changes are being proposed to the UK's maternity leave laws (minor tweaks) are not in the mentioned Equality Bill. For what it's worth, the UK requires employers to pay women 90% of their salary for 6 weeks only, and then a nominal amount for up to a year (which most families will not be able to take, since it's not enough income to live on), and the woman must be offered her job back upon completion of the leave. Most women take six weeks and then return to work, or quit entirely to take care of the kid. It's better than the U.S., but hardly a socialist utopia gouging out the soul of the hard-working noble capitalist, or whatever the linked article was trying to say. False all around. Nothing to see here, move along.

camccann 17y ago
It's better than the U.S., but hardly a socialist utopia gouging out the soul of the hard-working noble capitalist, or whatever the linked article was trying to say. What the article was trying to say is that placing burdensome restrictions on companies that have female employees will result in a completely predictable incentive to hire fewer women. If female employees are, on average, effectively more expensive to the company than an equivalent male employee, what do you expect businesses to do? And no, "it's illegal to discriminate against hiring women" doesn't help. Lots of things are illegal and people do them anyway.
eru 17y ago
> I'm trying to figure out why this article is posted, as a UK anti-discrimination bill doesn't seem to matter much to mostly-US programmers. `Mostly' is the word. There are also non-Americans on Hacker News.
bootload 17y ago
"... I'm trying to figure out why this article is posted, as a UK anti-discrimination bill doesn't seem to matter much to mostly-US programmers. ..." Because it's worth thinking about "why there are so few women in Startups?" Is it really how good a person is as a hacker or entrepreneur that stops someone succeeding? Is the Startup playground as open and equal as you think?

camccann 17y ago

It's better than the U.S., but hardly a socialist utopia gouging out the soul of the hard-working noble capitalist, or whatever the linked article was trying to say. What the article was trying to say is that placing burdensome restrictions on companies that have female employees will result in a completely predictable incentive to hire fewer women. If female employees are, on average, effectively more expensive to the company than an equivalent male employee, what do you expect businesses to do? And no, "it's illegal to discriminate against hiring women" doesn't help. Lots of things are illegal and people do them anyway.

eru 17y ago

> I'm trying to figure out why this article is posted, as a UK anti-discrimination bill doesn't seem to matter much to mostly-US programmers. `Mostly' is the word. There are also non-Americans on Hacker News.

bootload 17y ago

"... I'm trying to figure out why this article is posted, as a UK anti-discrimination bill doesn't seem to matter much to mostly-US programmers. ..." Because it's worth thinking about "why there are so few women in Startups?" Is it really how good a person is as a hacker or entrepreneur that stops someone succeeding? Is the Startup playground as open and equal as you think?