Gals, it’s time to talk about the pay gap. I know, I know, you’ve seen the statistics: a woman earns on average $0.84 to every dollar a man makes. But beyond this infamous stat, how much do we really know about the wage gap?
It’s a complex issue. There’s not one root cause or single solution for us to point to or rally behind, leaving the conversation overwhelming and working women undervalued.
What’s worse? This isn’t a problem we are going to fix in the near future. The latest stats indicate that it will still take 135 years to achieve equal pay. Yep - you read that right. It will take more than a century for pay to be equal between men and women.
We aren’t solving this gross pay disparity for us. We’re solving it for our children: our daughters, our granddaughters, our legacy.
But where to start? Today, I’m starting with education. As a former human resources professional, I have a decade of experience witnessing the complexities of the gender pay gap firsthand and I’m here to share what I’ve witnessed.
Women are typically hired into conventionally lower paying jobs. It’s not that women aren’t being hired, it’s that we are often times hired into jobs with lower starting salaries. Think: customer service and retail vs. engineering, IT, or finance.
The workplace isn’t historically flexible. Women oftentimes have competing priorities at home - not to mention the societal pressure on mothers - forcing us to consider part-time work or leaving the workforce entirely. I can’t tell you how many talented females I’ve seen leave their job because a company didn’t offer the flexibility to balance both home and work.
The difficulty of re-entering the workforce. I’ve witnessed the sheer challenge women looking to re-enter the working world face, especially after taking a career break to raise children or care for aging parents. This “resume gap” makes it harder to achieve management roles or higher paying positions, leaving overqualified, highly skilled women applying for entry level jobs.
Promotions tied to relocation. Oftentimes, organizations require employees to be open to relocation in order to be promoted and move up the corporate ranks - and, consequently, move up their salary. All too often, working women rely on a support base of family, nannies, and childcare service to make their career even possible. To move away from that security can be a deal-breaking decision, and often hold women back from making that next jump.
As if the above obstacles aren’t challenging enough, women just aren’t getting promoted into management roles at the same rate as men. Leadership roles equate to higher sales, and there are only so many c-suite positions available with those big-buck salaries. Thus, the pay gap perpetuates.
Societal biases don’t help either. Take negotiation for example. Women are told to ‘man up’ (but not too much! You don’t want to be seen as aggressive!), but research indicates that women who approach negotiation with the same confidence men do are often not seen favorably with hiring managers. And let me tell you, from my time in HR, I can attest. If I had a dollar for every time I heard “What?! We’re offering her the job, isn’t that enough?” well, I’d still probably only have $0.84 to whatever my male counterpart was earning.
The point is, the pay gap shouldn’t solely be placed on the shoulders of women to fix. We need the support of hiring managers, corporations, recruiters, mentors, society and each other to really make a permanent change.
Feels overwhelming? That’s because it is.
I mean, how do we even approach fixing a problem that started long before us and is expected to continue long after us? Well, as the age-old corporate saying goes, ‘how do you eat an elephant?’ Answer: one bite at a time.
Don’t disclose your salary during the job hunt. Sharing your current salary opens you up to salary discrimantion, whether you know it or not. Your potential employer could grant you a lower offer because your current pay is lower, or not make you an offer at all if you’re currently highly compensated.
Use your industry to set salary expectations. Research your industry and communicate your salary expectations based on the role, market, and your years of experience rather than your current salary. Your current salary is arbitrary, especially if you’re already underpaid.
Just apply for the dang job! Whether you’re after your first job, a job in a new industry, or a promotion, let’s take a lesson from Nike: just do it. Don’t talk yourself out of a job because you think you might be underqualified or it’s out of your salary range. Just apply. What’s the worst that can happen? A rejection letter? When you apply for jobs, you’re circulating your resume, making connections via interviews, and keeping your resume and interview skills sharp. Make them review your credentials, make them tell you yes or no. Just don’t make the decision for them by not bothering to apply.
So gals, get out there. Crush biases when you see them. Apply for the job you want, ask for the salary you deserve, and encourage the women in your life to do the same.
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