Equal opportunity and equal pay

Transcript

Many Japanese young people are now seeking offers of full-time employment to begin in April, 2010. This year many college seniors say job hunting is hard, and some are beginning to get discouraged.

In these hard economic times it's easy to forget the needs of young people, especially young women, and the long-term contributions they can make to society. Maybe this is a good time to reflect on fundamental human rights.

The right to work is expressed clearly in Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

This week the President of the United States proclaimed April 28, 2009, as National Equal Pay Day. In his proclamation, President Obama recognized that everyone must cooperate to end discrimination. He said:

The collective action of businesses, community organizations, and individuals is necessary to ensure that every woman receives just treatment and compensation.

There's no doubt that we're living in hard times. Many companies are struggling for survival, so we can't expect them to hire more young people than they need. But we can, and should, expect all employers to provide equal opportunities to men and women. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights still applies, even in hard times.