CareerPunk supports the transparency and equality of pay despite one’s gender, ethnicity, and/or orientation. The wage gap between women and men is still unsettlingly wide. In support of this awareness, I’d like to share thanks to Brigid Ludwig for her contribution below:
Since the Equal Pay Act of 1963, we’ve made a lot of progress towards pay parity. Yet, women still only earn 79 cents for every dollar a man makes, and women retire with about a third of the savings a man does. Looking at the facts, it’s clear that there is still work to be done in order to close the wage gap.
Opportunity & Confidence Gap
While there are a huge number of factors that affect how women are paid in today’s professional world, there are two major gaps that are important to note: The opportunity gap and the confidence gap. The opportunity gap is the name for the trend that women are less likely to be promoted than men of similar skill and tenure. In fact, one study found that even when women and men start in similar positions, with similar experience, 57% of men will be in leadership positions later in their career, compared to only 41% of women. Women are less likely to be given the opportunity to lead, or advance in their careers to higher-paid positions.
Secondly, the confidence gap describes the phenomenon that women are less likely to feel confident in their financial knowledge. This results in women being less likely to discuss money, with their friends, coworkers, and importantly — their bosses. This gap in confidence relates to the way women are taught. Girls are more likely to be taught to budget and save, while boys are more likely to be taught to invest. As they’re more likely to be characterized as bad with money in media, women grow up with negative internalized beliefs about their own ability to use money.
In order to bridge the wage gap, society needs to become more aware of the inherent biases in the way we talk to women, employ, and educate women. Though everyone has a part to play, it’s still crucial for women to take control of their own financial lives and break the salary silence.
For more information on income inequality and tips for talking about money, check out this visual by Turbo:
