Well first I’ll start by saying I’m so sorry for the hiatus I’ve had from my blog. As much as I’ve tried to keep up with it since I last wrote, I moved to Washington, D.C., started law school, started a new job and started a new internship, all while trying to figure out how to do life in a new place where I’m all alone for the first time. (Don’t get me wrong, it has been BEYOND amazing, but my blog definitely took a toll).

ANYWAYS, yesterday was Equal pay day – promoting equal pay for both men and women – and as important as it is to celebrate how far we have moved towards progress, I think it’s equally important to realize there’s much left to be done to reach equal pay and to realize some of the factors affecting it.

Below is a picture showing the amount of days different categories of women would have to work in order to earn as much as a man does. (Based on salaries from 2016).

 

The disparity between groups alone is cringe-worthy and certainly a reason to push for equality of women as a whole but it the fact that even the smallest gap – white women, who would need to work an extra 94 days to make as much money as a man – is too great to ignore. And while advocating equality of the genders is a great start, I think it’s important to look at other ways to influence equality and how we, as individuals, can strive for equality at work.

A couple years ago, I was a part of the Florida International Bankers Association (FIBA) Women’s Leadership group where I was able to attend a couple of seminars on women in the professional world. One of the most striking to me, was their seminar on gender equality in the workplace, which talked about having more women in the role of CEO, women empowering women, and EQUAL PAY.

Some of the big points they made here were that as large as this gap is, and a lot of it has to do with the way men still perceive women, a lot of it also has to do with the role we put ourselves in… for example:

• Many women were likely to stay in their position despite the opportunity for upwards movement due to LOYALTY.
  • A lot of times we feel bad leaving a company, letting our boss down, etc, and decide to stay in a smaller position because we don’t want to be seen as not being loyal. In comparison, our male counterpart knows what he wants and goes for it, even if it means being seen as disloyal.
• Women look at the immediate future while men focus on the end goal.
  • Of course this like any other point is not ALWAYS the case, but it has been for a lot of women. While men realize they need to do whatever it takes to get to their end goal, – whether it be name partner, CEO, or what have you – women tend to look at short term effects of leaving a position – like “how will it look on my resume that I was only in XYZ position for such a short time?” While its important to consider all factors, we need to gain some of that whatever-it-takes attitude men have and focus on what’s going to get us to the end goal, and not short-term effects like a tiny hump on a resume.
• Though there is a disparity in pay, this is considered by aggregating bonus features and incentives – more sick or vacation days, end-of-the-year-bonus, overtime, insurance, etc… When all these factors were added, men always came out on top.
  • Why is this? Studies showed women accepted whatever offer was handed to them with no fuss, while men realized what they brought to the workplace and negotiated for better incentives. As a women I’ve definitely felt uncomfortable asking for more and maybe that conformism (and for me, fear of overstepping, and possibly having a potential employer change their mind) has stopped me from getting the most, and that’s exactly the point. Men don’t have this fear and go for it, and in return, they’re out there getting outrageous benefits while we sit and debate this gap in pay.
• Last, but INCREDIBLY important, women have to learn to empower each other. This is a MUST. So often, jealousy or that feeling that you’re not as good pegs women against each other, when what we should be doing is empowering one another to have those larger roles – be that name partner, be that CEO, be the HBIC .

 

I’ll end by saying this, OF COURSE it’s important to advocate equal pay and as this point in time we’d hope we would be there. Still, it’s important to be a little better than you were yesterday and I think realizing our self-worth and our inner boss is an incredible feat that if accomplished would only help bridge that gap in equal pay.