Don't be afraid to #Ask4More

Happy Equal Pay Day! 

In a way, it almost pains me to say those words, simply because that means that something is unequal.

Why do we have an Equal Pay Day? Because women are still being paid LESS than our male counterparts.

Levo League has a great info graphic chronicling the history of Equal Pay Day, from Susan B. Anthony's call to arms for women everywhere right on up to today.  But here is the gist:




Today, women make, on the average, $0.77 to every $1.00 men make. 

In 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay act of 1963.  This act made it illegal for employers to pay men higher than women for substantially equal work (the lawyer in me is rolling my eyes, but hey, it was a start).  At that point in time, women were making $0.59 to every $1.00 men were making.

By 1979, women had nudged the average up to $0.62 for every man's $1.00, but the gap was still there.  We kept inching our way up with help from some inspirational girl-power champions like Gloria Steinham (happy late birthday, girlfriend) and Oprah Winfrey, and kept moving with the signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in March 2012.  A month after the signing, Equal Pay Day was established.

In 2013, Anne-Marie Slaughter gave an amazing TED talk titled, "Can We Have it All?" in which she
revisits an article she wrote in June of 2012, titled "Women CAN'T have it all," which lamented the difficulties of being a working woman. 

By 2014, more than 50% of households have women as breadwinners. The Senate is looking at revisiting the Paycheck Fairness Act.  And our current President has drawn attention to the issue, stating that "Women with college degrees may earn hundreds of thousands of dollars less over the course of her career than a man at the same educational level, and that's wrong."  Media disseminators like FastCompany and Contently, along with my favorite imaginary-bff Mindy Kaling are echoing the sentiment loud and clear, while companies from fashion-forward Bonobos to marketing agency Razorfish to WeddingWire are proud partners in the #ask4more movement.  However, even with all of the attention drawn to equal pay, women are still only making $0.77 to every man's $1.  According to Levo, if the pace of change continues at the same rate as it has since 1960, women won't be on an equal earning scale with men until the year 2058.


Come on gals, that isn't acceptable.

What can you do?

The flat out answer is that we can ask for more.  As a female, we are often (try not to jump on me over these generalizations, yall) less aggressive in asking for what we want in the workplace.  I know I am.  When it comes to negotiating for other people, I will go down fighting, but when it comes for even asking for a day off, I cringe.  I don't want to be seen as "difficult," or "particular" or even worse, as "a bitch"-- a common insult thrown at aggressive women.

However, you won't get what you don't ask for.  When I need to ask for something that I feel awkward about, I disassociate from the fact that I'm asking for myself, and imagine that I am fighting for one of my friends.  I value the people in my life so highly, I would go to bat for them any day of the week-- but we need to treat ourselves the same.  That's why I say, "Ok, you're asking this for [insert awesome friend's name here] because she [insert all of your qualities here].  For example:

Think to yourself: I am asking for a job for Chelsea because she singularly drafted X, Y, and Z, which led to a win in case A; she works extremely well with others and has created intra-team harmony, and because she has never missed a day of work.

"Chelsea" sounds like a killer employee, right?  Well, you're actually talking about yourself!

Also, having results-oriented data to back up your claims is important.  A lot of times, it comes down to money-- how much money have you made them?  However, in a starting role, it is hard to monetize your skills.  I mean, I could say that I "make amazing binders that saved 100 billable hours!" but that sounds a little far fetched and bizarre.  Instead of making such a major leap from tabbing files to saving thousands of dollars, you have to find a way to show that your organizational skills are valuable and directly tied to the bottom line.

No matter how you do it, don't be afraid to #Ask4More. Keep pushing for equal pay.  Don't settle for less than you deserve.  Don't be wishy-washy or shy; the worst they can say is "No."


And go over to visit Levo League for some fantastic articles on how to close the pay gap.


Ryan Gosling image credit to We Are Women Online