HeforShe : The Pay Gap

Emma Watson's speech to the United Nations in 2014, introducing the HeForShe campaign, became a big motivator for me to think and discuss gender equality. I had always shied away from identifying as a feminist, as the word conjured up images of aggressive women complaining to complain. I was brought up in California with strong female role models, none of which needed any help being heard or igniting their career. I relate to Emma Watson's experience:

"My life is a sheer privilege because my parents didn’t love me less because I was born a daughter. My school did not limit me because I was a girl. My mentors didn't assume that I would go less far because I might give birth to a child one day. These influences were the gender equality ambassadors that made me who I am today. They may not know it, but they are the inadvertent feminists that are changing the world today. We need more of those." - Emma Watson, 2014

As a woman in business, I am constantly confronted with the debate over gender equality in the workplace. Issues like the pay gap, maternity leave, objectification, sexual harassment and having a "seat at the table" are most common. These talking points stem from obvious observations (hello, 12-week maternity leave) to a female friend trying to understand how she felt when called "hot" in front of her boss at a sales conference. 

Is there a disadvantage to being a woman in the business world? Statistically, I would say yes. 

The pay gap is real - Glassdoor recently did a survey of workers in the UK, United States, France, Australia and Germany that confirmed this fact. Women's base pay is, on average, 24% less than men's. Comparing base pay apples to apples (job title, location, tenure), women on average are being paid 5.4% less. 

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) has been fighting for equal pay since 1913 and continues to do so. Their report released this spring provides more data and understanding behind this battle and why it is still being fought. Barack Obama's signature on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009 was the most recent hard fought victory for the AAUW, and they continue to push for more legislation to close the gap even further. 

What factors contribute to the pay gap?

1) Choice of industry: As a whole, women are training for lower paying jobs than our male counterparts. 

2) Pregnancy: Women are the child bearers and need to take time off of work to care for a newborn baby. Maternity leave varies country to country, but in the least this requires 12 weeks of paid time off. 

3) Care taking: Biology wires us for motherhood by gifting us with an innate ability to nurture. In turn, more women than men take on the caretaker role when it comes to child-rearing and caring for sick and elderly relatives.

4) Lack of leadership: A February 2016 research study, conducted by the Petersen Institute, surveyed over 21,000 companies in 91 countries. Less than 50% of the companies researched had a female representative on the executive team. With less women making the hiring decisions, less women are represented at the executive level.

5) The "ask" gap: Women statistically are less likely to ask for a pay increase than men.

I can say confidently that I have seen both men and women fighting to correct the inequality. The microcosm of the tech world is doing its part by encouraging longer maternity and paternity leaves, transparency in salaries and promoting more women to leadership positions. The Petersen Institute study confirmed that the countries where most women were in leadership roles were also the countries with the longest paternity leave. 

As an individual, encouraging women to develop negotiation skills is essential. I always say that my first job in software sales was the best career decision I could have made at that time. Constantly pitching, negotiating sales contracts, and weaving through internal corporate politics created an amazing opportunity to practice taking charge in life and business. We should encourage women to train for jobs that will allow for higher earning potential and men need to take a larger role in the child rearing and care taking process. I believe strongly in transparency when it comes to the employers role here. The easier to is to identify the disparity, the more common it will be to correct. 

Regardless of the efforts being made, we all need to put in more work. Let's be the generation to end this debate #heforshe