This month saw the 40th anniversary of the conception of Louise Brown, the world’s first IVF baby. It was also Equal Pay Day, the day on which, due to the current gender pay gap, UK women effectively stop earning in relation to men for the rest of the year.
If there is a relationship between these two facts, it’s a complex one. Women’s role in human reproduction has frequently been held responsible for their lower pay and status. Either it’s supposed to make us less effective workers, or it determines that our lives be spent doing work that, for some reason, does not even merit pay. Even if we do not have children, the taint of belonging to the breeder class limits our options. To some this is plain old biology, and who’s going to argue with that? (Science, that’s who.)
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