Q: Last week you discussed a new law preventing employers from asking salary history questions of applicants. The law is aimed at narrowing the gender wage gap by preventing existing pay inequality from following a person from job to job. But, I thought the wage gap was caused by other factors, like women taking time off to have kids, and eschewing promotional opportunities requiring long hours because they absorb more family/childcare responsibilities than men.
Salary history seems insignificant. It’s like trying to cure obesity by simply not asking about weight, instead of addressing how we got fat.
A: That’s a great point. The cause of gender wage inequality is complex and salary history is just a result. Although not asking about it does help a bit in not perpetuating inequality, salary history is only a drop in the bucket. The real cause is societal and cultural.
What I think would be more helpful than those laws is for women and girls to help themselves by learning negotiating skills as part of general life skills. And, I’d take it a step further and also teach women to negotiate for themselves and for their own interests.
Studies have shown that women can be able negotiators when doing so in someone else’s behalf. But they are not adept at negotiating for their own benefit.
Another example where women don’t help themselves is a recent study which found that even when applicants are given the average range for a position by an employer, on average, women tend to ask for less than men, regardless of experience. I’ll admit, this left me flabbergasted.
Why do women see themselves as less valuable? I don’t know. But I know men simply have a more prestigious, powerful role in our society, and that men’s accomplishments and value are a “given”. We had a recent example of our collective assumptions about competence when the Southwest pilot who safely landed a passenger plane that lost an engine, was identified as a “he” in early reports. In fact, the pilot was Tammie Jo Shults a former Navy fighter pilot and one of the first women to fly the F/A 18 fighter jet.
Sadly, we’ve seen very little publicity about her story –a model of competence, skill and courage. Who knows, this may illustrate why women don’t feel as valuable, and points at how the solution is up to all of us.
©Copyright Eva Del Rio
Eva Del Rio is creator of HR Box™ – tools for small businesses and startups. Send questions to Eva@evadelrio.com
