Women are still working for free...

Note: this article was originally published as a newsletter in November 2023, and any statistics or dates given were accurate at that time but may be different for this year.

Hello beautiful human

This Wednesday is the day that the Fawcett Society, a membership charity campaigning for gender equality and women’s rights at work, at home and in public life in the UK, say will mean that women in the UK are working for free from November 22nd until the end of the year.

In America, Equal Pay Day was on March 14th this year, they do it at the beginning of the year, making that date when women started being paid this year.

Among workers aged 25 to 34 in the US, women in 2022 earned 92 cents for every dollar earned by men in the same age group - that's an 8 cent gap. If we look at all workers aged 16 and older, the gap widens to 18 cents.

Over the loooooooooooong haul, the gender pay gap has shrunk, dropping from 35 cents in 1982 to 18 cents in 2022 for all workers, and from 26 cents to 8 cents for those aged 25 to 34.

There are many things that folks blame for the difference over the years, things like education, job type and experience. As women made strides in these areas, the gap slightly closed… but still not enough.

Women still find ourselves overrepresented in lower paying jobs compared to their overall presence in the workforce.

Even though more of us are stepping into higher paying roles traditionally dominated by men, we are often paid less.

Yet when men step into roles dominated by women, the experience is quite different. They get offered a place on the glass elevator instead.

The term is a close cousin of the glass ceiling, which refers to the invisible barriers that can hinder the career progression of women in male dominated fields.

The idea behind the glass elevator, is that when men do the reverse they find themselves on a fast track to success due to their gender. Where we are penalised, they instead benefit from positive stereotypes, such as assumptions about their competence or leadership abilities. We see this happening for some men in HR.

There is no getting away from the fact that gender discrimination is still rife and absolutely continues to tip the balance of compensation in the favour of men.

Unsurprisingly, women and men have slightly different takes on this. More women (61%) believe that differential treatment by employers is a big reason, while men (37%) are a bit less convinced, and think instead it comes down to the choices about work and family.

So what can we do about it?

We start with us.

• By overcoming the biases within us in relation to other women.
• By rallying the battle cry when we see another women being held back or torn down.
• By making it our business to share openly how we have navigated things, what we earn and how others can do the same.
• And my favourite of all... by making sure that if we see a woman asking for less in a role we are involved in hiring, we have a quiet conversation with her about what she should be asking for.

Together we will win. But only together.

That’s why this small but growing community of Bloom is literally called Bloom Together.

Because that is what we will do.

 
Big love