The gender pay gap is definitely not a thing of the past — the 77 cents that women make for every man's dollar in this country is a sure sign that gender inequality continues to plague the workplace. To put things in perspective, men make the equivalent of a woman's yearly salary by the time the first of September rolls around. Configured on a weekly basis, a woman must work until the following Tuesday to catch up to a man in an equivalent position.
Just last week, the Senate killed an equal pay bill, called the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, that was aiming to counteract a Supreme Court decision limiting how long workers can wait before suing for pay discrimination. The original decision was made when Lilly Ledbetter sued her employer for pay discrimination and the case escalated all the way to the Supreme Court. Want to know how long you have to sue your employer for unfair pay? Just read more
As Lilly learned when the final gavel was pounded over her case, you have 180 days starting from your hire date to sue over pay discrimination. Her case makes it clear why it's so important to be aware of what your colleagues earn: She worked 20 years for Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. before she learned that she was earning far less than her male colleagues. An anonymous co-worker slipped her a note to make her aware of the disparity and Ledbetter says, "I was shocked. I lost my composure. I had to go into the ladies' lounge and sit down because it was just like falling; you look around and see who's looking at you."
Goodyear gave her specific instructions when she was hired to not discuss her pay, and she complied knowing that breaking this rule could mean trouble for her job. Even if your employer doesn't give you strict instructions to keep your lips sealed about pay, talking to your colleagues about salary is something that definitely doesn't come naturally. When I interviewed negotiation expert Linda Babcock she suggested asking your colleagues what they think you should be making, which could be a more comfortable question. Have any of you ever approached a co-worker about pay issues?
Marc by Marc Jacobs
Milly
Superdrug
I have never felt that I make less then an equal employee. I do remember though back in college I worked at lowes home impro. I worked with two guys my age in the same department. I was the last one hired and I made $3 an hour more then them. They weren't too happy about it.
1Savvy, where is the $0.77 figure coming from? CitizenSugar's link in her post regarding this case indicated that we are at an overall $0.81 to the dollar as of 2006 and people in the age group most often reading this site are at $0.95 to the dollar.
The current EEOC requirement doesn't specify that you have 180 days to sue from your hire date as your post says but rather there had to be proven discriminatory intent in that 180 day charging period. In other words, they were saying there had to be some sort of pay decision - an unfairly low raise, the denial of a raise, etc... - in that 180 charging period. Ledbetter's argument was that she still suffered from previous discrimination during that 180 day period and therefore should be able to seek redress. Justice Ginsburg and the other dissenting justices agreed with her given the secretive nature of employee pay and the slow, incremental build of pay discrimination over the years.
As far as discussing pay with your coworkers, what a sticky situation. I guess we're lucky that in this day and age there is a lot of information on the Internet enabling us to compare our salaries with regional averages, etc...
2I know that the wage gap is significantly lower for those who are just out of college who work with their peers. But as you get older, that gap widens becuase of numerous factors.
I think the $0.77 is coming from just general stats. I know that this can be lower at some points, and it can be a higher figure as well. On average, it's $0.77 for every dollar.
3I remeber hearing/learning/reading in my women and work class a year ago that one of the reasons that women make less than men was because we are the primary care takers of our family and immediate families. If your child gets sick, the female generally takes that time off, and if a relative gets sick, the same things happens. There are also other things such as having a child, and so forth.
Apparently, this equals enough time that it counts as less experience in the work place for women than men.
I feel that it's a little stereotypical to get paid less because we happen to be the ones who take care of family emergencies.
4I'm skeptic of the wage difference figures. They vary widely depending on the source, and thus I suspect that the most shocking of them (like this one) are not normalizing for things like time in position, time spent away from position (for whatever reason), previous experience, etc.
For example, I make more than a number of people in my role, but it's because I brought experience and skills with me that justified a higher level of pay.
5I agree with Jen, savvy this post needs some updating/good facts and sources.
6The majority of statistics I've found surrounding this issue report that women earn $0.77 for every dollar earned by a man. And really, if the disparity is more like $0.81 than $0.77 it's still not even close to equal pay for the same work. By focusing on these differentials we're nickel-and-diming ourselves and helping to perpetuate the situation.
7Savvy - I was just curious since there is no source linked. I still think the headline is misleading "Men Earn in Nine Months What You Earn in a Year" given that the "You" - ie the people reading this site and that headline - is a demographic that is a lot closer to parity.
I think that's a little harsh to say that questioning unsourced facts is perpetuating pay discrimination.
8This is one of those statistics that I'm shocked still exists in this day and age, and many of my male friends/colleagues can't seem to believe it. I like Babcock's advice about how to ask politely about salary, though.
9This definitely makes me upset and frustrated. I don't ask co-workers how much they make, but if I was to find out that men (at the same level) were earning more, this would make me very unhappy. At least in my personal experience, I work a lot more efficiently and spend a lot less time dawdling (with the exception of this little break). But in any case, if we are expected to do the same work, then why is the pay differential still so salient?
10Jennifer76 - It just seems to me that we're getting hung up on the details here. The point being that arguing wither its .77 or .81 is not the issue and to focus on that is not that productive. Also, I think that you are using un-sourced and speculative info in saying that the vast majority of women reading this site fall into "your" category. I for one don't fall into what I "imagine" the demographic to be for Savvy, so I think that using the average statistic makes more sense in order to include everyone.
11Very discouraging...
12jb3 - I wasn't intending to argue whether it was $0.77 or $0.81 - that's only a 5% difference after all. I was asking what her source was as it is obviously different than the source used for a recent post by another Sugar. I think we're getting a little hung up on whether or not it's ok for a reader to be curious to read more background info.
Sugar reader demographics easily found right here.
13"I think we're getting a little hung up on whether or not it's ok for a reader to be curious to read more background info"
14jen76- the difference is the 0.77 figure is for overall median annual earnings, which includes things like bonuses, self-employment, etc. This figure was from 2004 The 0.81 figure is median weekly income only. I'm guessing the difference (because not much changed in two years) reflects that men might receive more bonus money or be more likely to have reported income from self-employment (fixing houses on the side, maybe?).
15Also, the 0.95 figure is for women 16-24. For women over 25, the wage gap is back down to 0.79. Since "Nancy", our average Sugar Network member is 27, she is a victim of the wage gap. Furthermore, with a bachelor's degree from Northwestern, Nancy on average probably makes 31% less than her similarly qualified counterparts.
16There's no wage discrepancy between genders in my field...but this is pretty disheartening to read, nevertheless.
17This is infuriating. We expect politicians to be transparent in their decision making process. Employer's should be, too. At the very least, they should release info with the employee's age, sex, title, experience, and salary. At larger workplaces, that data could protect privacy while ensuring equality. Come on, Hillary.
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