About a month ago, I posted a discussion on my LinkedIn groups about Equal Pay Day that talked about how women still make 77 cents on the dollar compared to men. I don’t know about you, but it felt to me first, not quite possible, and second, depressing! How can we fix 23% when we are already working so hard?
So here’s the good news. On Friday, May 14th the NY Times published an article about a Harvard research study that says that the real number is closer to 92 cents on the dollar. Hooray! The study addressed the ‘not quite possible’ piece I’d been stuck on. According to Hannah Riley Bowles, the study’s author, ‘Part of the pay gap can be easily explained away. Women are more likely to leave the work force to care for children, for example, so they end up with fewer years of experience. Men also tend to work in highter-paying occupations and industries.”
So while the article seemed to take a view that it’s unfortunate that we still don’t negotiate well enough to make up for the $.08, I was so encouraged. I mean really, with a little strategy and planning, can’t we learn to negotiate better and close this relatively small gap?
Here is the link to the article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/15/your-money/15money.html