Are you being paid what you are worth?
June 1st, 2007 by
val
Equal pay for equal work – doesn’t sound hard, does it? Yet the gender gap in pay has remained unchanged in most Western countries since the 1980′s, with women making around 75% on average of what men make. The gap remains even when adjusted in every way researchers can think of.
A major cause of pay disparity is caused by gender differences in negotiation. In short, men expect to negotiate their compensation, and women have no idea that negotiation is even possible! After reading the excellent Women Don’t Ask, negotiating a few job offers, and sharing stories with my other female friends, I wrote HOWTO Negotiate your salary and benefits – for women. The short version:
- Negotiate! It will almost never hurt you, and almost always help. Screw up your courage and just do it!
- Do your research – know what you are worth. Ask for advice from knowledgeable, well-compensated people with more skill and experience than you.
- Never ever give the first figure for salary – make the person hiring say a number first, even if they ask, repeatedly. Never ever ever! If there’s a form, don’t fill in the “Salary” blanks. Just don’t do it.
- Always act slightly disappointed, no matter what the job offer is. Ask for time to think about it (i.e., plan your strategy) before getting back to them.
June 2nd, 2007 at 1:06 pm
“Women Don’t Ask” rocked my world. Here I thought I was this progressive feminist, doing it right. But while reading I thought repetedly: “Damn, I still do these things to myself”. It was a painful eye opener.
I was also surprised to find that PBS was featuring Suze Orman as a guest speaker for their fund raising drive. Her motivational talk was interesting, stating that women often treat themselves as if they are for sale. Women negotiate for things they don’t want, remain silent for things they do want, etc. Interesting.
June 7th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
As a side note, I have always found compensation very rarely has a strong correlation to talent (this applies to both men and women). Therefore I find the referenced article is applicable to the pure geeks that don’t know how to market themselves, regardless of gender.