Gender Pay Gap 101
This is not a happy topic. This one makes me angry. Especially when you add it to all the other bias related stuff in our world. It makes me extra angry for black women, latinx women and women of color who get and even shorter end of the stick.
But we gotta know what it is in order to fight it, right? Okay, let’s dive in.
The Pay Gap
Conversation around the pay gap often kicks up in April around Equal Pay Day, which is an actual day devoted to pointing out that it takes, on average, another 4 months for women to earn what a man will have earned by the moment that ball drops on December 31st! This is somewhat symbolic though, and I’ll walk you through a little more about why! Let’s go!
The pay gap isn’t as simple to explain as we’d like
But Samantha there's literally a day dedicated to it. How can this not be simple? Well,there are lots of people who think the gender pay gap is a myth! I have my own opinions, of course, but I'll try and run you through the high level...
Let's start with the premise of Equal Pay Day.
Women make 81 cents on the dollar compared to men.
This is according to the U.S. Census data in 2017 and basically the rallying cry to raise awareness of the issue but is, obviously, a little bit too much of a sweeping claim. If you want a lot of data on how this varies by race and throughout the course of a career (which is also referred to as the "opportunity" or "leadership gap," check this out (spoiler: it's way worse for women of color).
What's the other side of the story?
Some argue that the 81 cents ignores key factors like education level, experience, time taken off for motherhood and the trends of women gravitating towards lower paying careers, etc.
Is there actually a gap that exists just because an employee is female?
Based on my research, YES! It's just smaller and WAY more complicated.
Re: smaller,
The "controlled gap" (a.k.a when you start comparing the salaries of men and women in the same jobs with the same education and years of experience) is likely between 1-9%. A global search firm puts is at 1% and attributes it, primarily, to the lack of women in senior roles. Glassdoor has it at 5.4%.
Re: complicated,
This is a great piece that walks through the complications.
This one covers some of the impacts of less women getting promoted. Also nice graphs!
This article tries to debunks a lot of the claims of "myths" such as "women are paid less because they choose lower paying jobs" or "the pay gap exists because women don't negotiate."
How is this even legal?
It's not. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 made it illegal to pay men and women differently for similar jobs. But there are still plenty of loopholes. Famously, the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was the first bill President Obama's signed into law - changing the regulations on when discrimination cases can be filed (see here for more detail).
There’s also the Pay Fairness Act which is a more recent bill that has been proposed and struck down multiple times (read: brutal political battle). The bill would punish employers for retaliating against employees who talked openly about their salary and allow employees to sue for punitive damages (aka to get paid back) when they've been discriminated against. I won’t get too far into politics here but seems like something we should all be able to get behind, right?
Is this just in the U.S.?
Oh no, this s#!t is global. Iceland is one country that's taken action in it's own law on the topic - TBD if it's working.
But it's getting better right?!
Well... not quite. Our pace at fighting the gap (either controlled or not) has actually slowed over time. Right now we're on pace to close it by 2106 😬But it's definitely more talked about these days! Both successes (see: Dr. Meredith Grey) and painful mistakes (see: Michelle Williams, the Queen).
Plus COVID-19 probably made it worse. More on this soon.
2106?!?! I'm not waiting that long. How do I help?
Circling back to my previous comment about it being complicated. It's hard to know which angle will do the most good on this topic (do we get more women in leadership? do we try to tackle implicit bias that unfairly penalizes women for negotiating? do we push to get more women in traditionally higher paying fields?).
This is a huge topic and I am still only beginning to scratch the surface in my own research. So look out for more as I continue to update this one. BUT to at least get you started, I think this is a great recap of some ways companies AND individuals can help. If you're in the mood for some #collaborationovercompetition vibes, here's a nice one too.
My Takeaways:
Do you know if you're paid fairly? Ask your work bestie or a friend (male or female!) you have in your industry "What do you think someone in my position should be making?" Note: In real life, it's hard for us to attribute pay differences to gender discrimination vs. you starting off with a lower salary, etc. but step #1 is knowing there's a difference!
Support. Other. Women. Suggest a woman to lead a project or stop someone from interrupting a woman during a meeting. The little actions add up and can help get more women in leadership, battle the old boys clubs, etc.
Write to your senator/congressman to tell them that pay equity is an important issue to you.
