Posts Tagged ‘ discrimination ’

Why We Need the Paycheck Fairness Act

June 22, 2011
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Pay Secrecy at WorkYears ago, at my second job post-college, my friend and coworker asked me to share my salary. I said no, but she persisted. We were both about to have salary reviews and she argued we had no way to benchmark our raises if we had no idea what others in the firm were getting paid. It made sense, so we snuck into the stairwell of our office building to swap data in secrecy –we were under the impression we could be fired for sharing our pay.

It turns out she was paid $1000 more annually than me. So while in reality our salaries were practically the same, at the time it seemed like a big deal. She gloated. I pouted. And I vowed never to share salary information again – nothing good could come from it.

Not true.

A new report from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) titled, “Pay Secrecy and Wage Discrimination,” discusses how pay transparency might reduce the gender wage gap. Today, women earn, on average, 23 percent less than men. And 40 percent of pay inequity can be attributed to pay discrimination.*

But with approximately half of all workers in the United States contractually forbidden or strongly discouraged from discussing their pay with coworkers, per an IWPR/Rockefeller Survey of Economic Security, there is virtually no way to discover pay discrimination.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs in the Walmart v. Dukes case presented data in the court room pointing to a gender-based pay gap at the giant retailer. But in a place where the evidence “suggests that gender bias suffused” the culture, pay secrecy would have made confirming that data a challenge for women on the job. And Lilly Ledbetter, for whom the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is named, worked at Goodyear for almost two decades before she received an anonymous note tipping her off to the fact she was paid less than men doing the same work.

The Paycheck Fairness Act which was reintroduced this year by Senator Mikulski and Rep. DeLauro after it was rejected by the Senate last fall, will help combat pay secrecy. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand wrote in the Huffington Post that the Paycheck Fairness Act, “would prohibit employers from retaliating against workers for sharing salary information with their co-workers. The legislation would also establish training groups to help women strengthen their negotiation skills, enforce equal pay laws for federal contractors, and require the Department of Labor to work with employers to eliminate wage disparities through better outreach and training.”

Contact your representatives in Congress and ask them to support the Paycheck Fairness Act.

*”The Gender Pay Gap: Have Women Gone as Far as They Can?” (Blau and Kahn, 2007)

 

 

Waiting for Walmart v. Dukes

June 18, 2011
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Female JusticeWhile we wait for a Supreme Court decision on the Walmart v. Dukes class action suit, here are some other important court cases that impact working women.

The Missouri Court of Appeals is allowing Francine Katz, who was the highest ranking woman at Anheuser-Busch, to continue her gender discrimination suit against the brewer. Anheuser-Busch wanted the matter to be dealt with in arbitration. Katz, the former vice president of communications and consumer affairs for the company, has accused Anheuser-Busch of a frat-like, locker-room atmosphere and of paying her less than her male peers. Katz was paid 50 percent less than her male predecessor and learned that every male member of the company’s strategy committe was classified as a Tier I officer, but both women on the committee were Tier II officers.

Several months ago, employees at Bayer Pharmaceutical filed a discrimination case against the company for unfair policies around “pay, promotions and pregnancy leave” and for creating a hostile work environment. The suit was originally filed by six female employees and then expanded to include all female sales representatives and women in the Bayer Healthcare Consumer Care unit. The women say Bayer ignored their complaints. One incident cited in the suit is garnering media attention. A male employee road the elevator with a female employee who was eating an oblong-shaped donut and told her his day would improve if he, “could watch that whole donut slide down your throat.” Bayer denies the allegations.

Meanwhile retailer Best Buy just proposed a settlement in a discrimination class action on behalf of women and minority employees. The suit alleged that Best Buy discriminates against women, African American, and Latino employees and denied them promotions and access to lucrative sales positions. Best Buy denied the allegations but said the settlement was in the best interest of the company.

Moving from gender discrimination to sexual harassment, a woman in Illinois was recently awarded $95 million by a federal jury. This is reported to be the largest award in an individual sexual harassment case. The woman will likely receive less due to legal caps on damages, and the defendant plans to appeal the verdict. The woman worked at Aarons, a lease-to-own furniture company, and was sexually assaulted by her  manager after a year of harassment. Her lawyers said she called a company harassment hotline but never received any help. The suit also says her manager was once reprimanded for his behavior while she was present.

In May UBS Financial Services Inc. was ordered to pay $10 million in a sexual harassment case brought forward by a Missouri employee.

In California, a woman lost her harassment case against a local Teamsters union because the statute of limitations deadline had passed. However, the jury did believe the woman worked in a hostile environment where “party girls” were present at workplace functions sitting on the bosses lap and giving massages.

(For a great piece on what management can do to protect themselves from sexual harassment occuring in the workplace, check out Victoria Pynchon’s article at Forbes.com.)

Gender discrimination and sexual harassment cases are very tough to fight. Even in last year’s ruling against Novartis (the court awarded $250 million in punitive damages in that gender discrimination case) the plaintives were accused of lying and being overly-emotional and fragile – by the defense. Women’s work performance,  personal character, even their personal lives are  shredded during a case. And many lawyers won’t take individual cases as the dollars involved don’t make it worth their time. The Walmart case will have major implications for future suits.

Walmart v. Dukes is the largest class action suit to be brought before the courts. The size of the class has been reported at 1.5 million women. The Supreme Court is not determining if Walmart is guilty of discrimination. Rather they are ruling on whether or not the women who have worked at WalMart have enough in common to be considered a class. Walmart lawyers have argued the women have little in common except gender. If the court rules in favor of the employees, Walmart could face a huge payout. If the court rules against the class, many women could be denied an opportunity to deal with any individual discrimination cases they may have. A decision is expected any day now.

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The Impact of Women on the GDP

May 3, 2011
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BusinessWomanA new report from McKinsey& Company titled, “Unlocking the full potential of women in the U.S. economy,” delivers little we didn’t already know about why women aren’t advancing to the tops of organizations but it offers great analysis on why we should care.

The global management consulting firm surveyed 2,500 men and women and interviewed 30 chief diversity officers and experts about why  highly capable and motivated women reject top positions in organizations and either pursue jobs outside corporations or leave corporate America altogether.  A key objective of the report, however, was to understand how women contribute to the U.S. economy.

The lack of women at the top isn’t a recruitment problem. It’s a retention problem. There is a healthy pipeline of talented and ambitious women. Last year 50 percent of all undergraduate degrees in the U.S. went to women, however only 50 percent of the college educated workforce was made up of women. And companies are good at recruiting women, according to the report. Parental leave, flex schedules, part-time options all make work more appealing for women.

But what’s happening is women are dropping off at each rung on the corporate ladder. According to Sylvia Hewlett, from the Center for Work-Life Policy (CWLP), women comprise 53 percent of new hires, but only 37 percent of managers, 26 percent of vice-presidents, and just 14 percent of executive committees.

Why? We’ve heard it before –too few of role models, exclusion from networks, not having a sponsor, lack of meaningful work, aversion to corporate politics and subtle but deeply ingrained discrimination.

We’ve also heard before the reason gender diversity matters. There is a large, and growing, body of research connecting women at the tops of organizations to a strong bottom line performance. But the McKinsey report makes a fresh and compelling case for why women matter to the overall health of the U.S. economy.

In 1970, women held 37 percent of all jobs. In 2009, that number grew to 48 percent, equaling 38 million more women at work. According to McKinsey, without these women, “our economy would be 25% smaller today—an amount equal to the combined GDP of Illinois, California and New York.” In order for the country to sustain its historic GDP growth rate of three percent, we need to expand the workforce and increase productivity. And women are key to both.

According to McKinsey’s data,  approximately 76 percent of American women between the ages of 25 and 54 are in the workforce, compared to 87 percent in Sweden. If the U.S. could increase the workplace participation rate of women in each state to 84 percent, it would add 5.1 million women – the equivalent of three or four  percent GDP growth.

 

Closing the Gender Leadership Gap

April 26, 2011
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Woman climbing corporate ladderThe number of women in the senior ranks of companies worldwide is decreasing, not increasing as one might expect. According to a report from consulting firm Grant Thornton International, the number of women in senior management positions globally has gone from 24 percent in 2004 to 20 percent in 2009. What gives?

Well, change is slow. Very slow, sometimes. In fact, here in the U.S., in ten years, the percentage of female corporate officers in Fortune 500 companies grew only 2 percent, to 14 percent total. The percentage of female board directors grew just four percent, to 16 percent. And the percentage of women who are among the top earners, increased from 12 percent to 14 percent. (Source: Catalyst)

A new report from the Center for Gender in Organizations (CGO) at the Simmons School of Management, “Closing the Women’s Leadership Gap:Who Can Help?,” looks at the factors contributing to the gap and at what can be done to shrink it.

The CGO surveyed more than 300 women at the 2010 Simmons Leadership Conference and found that more than 90 percent of the respondents report experiencing “second generation,” or subtle discrimination at work. According to the press release, announcing the report’s availability, “Second generation gender bias includes work cultures and practices that appear neutral on the surface, but can result in differential experiences and treatment of women and men.  Examples include performing ‘invisible’ work, such as resolving problems and bringing teams together, which receives little to no credit; exclusion from key networks necessary for advancement; and being hyper-scrutinized while in leadership roles.”

The study also examined the ways in which women seek help addressing gender bias at work. Survey respondents reported reaching out to their personal connections for advice. It makes sense. When you are feeling a lack of trust or a sense of discrimination, it’s natural to turn to those you do trust and relate to – a spouse, partner, members of your professional networks, peers, mentors – other women. However, the study reveals women perceive greater success in dealing with second generation bias when they get help from a male boss. So while peers, spouses and female coworkers may be most willing to lend support, it pays to be deliberate and persistent in developing relationships with the men at work who hold positions of authority to effectively address gender issues.

The report outlined what women can do to both promote and support other women and to advance their own careers.

- Women bosses and mentors need to complement the socio-emotional advice and support that they give mentees with active sponsorship and strategic advice.

Women in positions of leadership and authority need to dish out some tough love in order to help mentees. Don’t skip the encouragement, jut balance it out.  And don’t be afraid to sponsor high-potential mentees.

Women pursuing leadership need to be strategic in seeking out sponsors as well as mentors.

Understand the power structure in your organization and build relationships with those in position of authority, not just with those with whom you relate naturally.

And finally, women pursuing leadership need to invest in learning more about second gender issues and how they shape women’s paths to leadership.

All though it may seem effective short-term, the heads-down, barrel-through strategy isn’t always the best one. Contrary to what your friends may tell you, it’s not only okay to acknowledge that women experience work differently than men, it’s strategic.

The 2011 Simmons Leadership Conference is today in Boston. The theme: Passion and Profession. It should be interesting.

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It’s Equal Pay Day, Let’s Try This Again

April 12, 2011
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Today is Equal Pay Day….again. Equal Pay Day is the day we note women earn less than men for similar work. The day is always observed on a Tuesday in April because women would need to work a week plus two more days, or a year plus three more months, to earn what men earn. According to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau, women earn, on average, just .78 cents for every dollar a man earns. And for women of color, the gap is much greater.

The Equal Pay Act was signed in  1963 and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was signed in 2009. Clearly, they are not enough. If we don’t take action, the gap won’t close for thirty more years- and even then there are no guarantees.

The good news today is that Senator Kirsten Gillibrand vowed to push for passage of  the Paycheck Fairness Act, along with Senator Mikulski. Gillibrand writes at the Huffington Post that the Paycheck Fairness Act, “would prohibit employers from retaliating against workers for sharing salary information with their co-workers. The legislation would also establish training groups to help women strengthen their negotiation skills, enforce equal pay laws for federal contractors, and require the Department of Labor to work with employers to eliminate wage disparities through better outreach and training.”

The Paycheck Fairness Act was rejected by the Senate last year. We can’t let that happen again. We can’t let that happen because:

- Fair pay is not a woman’s issue, it’s a family issue.  An estimated two-thirds of all U.S.  households rely on a woman’s salary at least partially.

- The wage gap threatens our economic health. If American families are earning .22 percent less than they deserve, then they will have .22 percent less to spend on consumer goods and services.

- The wage gap stems, in part, from the biases working mothers face in the workplace. Forty percent of mothers are primary breadwinners and they deserve equal opportunities and equal pay.

- Wage discrimination can be difficult to address and to fight. We’ve seen evidence of that in the WalMart hearings. The Paycheck Fairness Act will help address those challenges.

Contact your representatives in Congress today and ask them to support the Paycheck Fairness Act.

 

 

Walmart Gender Discrimination Suit Update

April 4, 2011
By

Female Justice

The class action gender discrimination suit against Walmart, which had been given a green light by a federal judge and a federal appeals court, could be losing steam in the Supreme Court.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs must prove Walmart had an unlawful policy that led to the discrimination. The UPI explained the challenge they face in trying to prove the class has merit, “The basic claim in the suit is that Walmart maintains a common culture — “the Walmart Way” — to ensure uniformity in its 3,400 stores … but the corporate headquarters gives local store managers unlimited discretion to decide pay and promotions — resulting in lower pay and fewer promotions for women.”

Many close to the case and present in the courtroom said the justices seem divided down gender lines with Justices Sotamayor, Ginsburg and Kagan revealing support for the case in their line of questioning. The St. Petersburg Times reported, “ Ginsburg, who made her legal reputation in sex-discrimination law, said WalMart’s experience shows how “gender bias can creep” into the workplace. It isn’t “at all complicated,” she said. “Most people prefer themselves. And so a decisionmaker, all other things being equal, would prefer someone who looked like him.”

The case was sparked ten years ago by Betty Dukes, a 60 year old store greeter, and claims women at the giant retailer are paid less than men, have fewer opportunities for promotion than their male coworkers, and are poorly represented at the management levels of the organization. This case has also leveled accusations of a work environment that included team meetings at Hooters and requests for women to “doll up.”

Walmart had asked for a review of the appeal court ruling that paved the way for a massive class action suit against the retailer (reports have the size of the class at more than a million).  Treating the case as a class action obviously has major implications for both Walmart and its female employees. If the court rules in favor of the employees, Walmart could face a huge payout. If the court rules against the class, many women could be denied an opportunity to deal with any individual discrimination cases they may have.

Gender discrimination can be challenging to identify and the long-term effects can remain hidden indefinitely. Women must have squeaky clean employment records or risk having their character and work ethic shredded during a suit. And many lawyers won’t take individual cases as the dollars involved don’t make it worth their time.

There is plenty at stake here. A ruling is expected in June.

 

Walmart Gender Discrimination Case: A Familiar Debate for Some Women

March 28, 2011
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Doris Dukes and Walmart plaintiffs

Tuesday the Supreme Court will hear arguments in the Walmart gender discrimination class action lawsuit. The case was sparked ten years ago by Betty Dukes, a 60 year old store greeter, and claims women at the giant retailer are paid less than men, have fewer  opportunities for promotion than  their male coworkers, and are poorly represented at the management levels of the organization. This case has also leveled accusations of  a work environment that included team meetings at Hooters and requests for women to “doll up.”

Tomorrow’s hearings will not focus on whether WalMart discriminated against women. Rather the court will evaluate whether the women who have worked at WalMart have enough in common to be considered a class. The size of the class has been reported at 1.5 million women. Walmart lawyers have argued that the women have little in common except gender.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs will be challenged to demonstrate Walmart had a a common policy that was discriminatory.  They have cited decentralized and discretionary employee evaluation policies as support for a commonality finding. Walmart has argued discretionary decision-making is not inherently discriminatory.

It sounds like the lawyers will engage in debates not unsimilar to the debate working women occasionally  have – but usually with themselves.  For example, while on a business trip once with coworkers, the boss thought it would be “funny” if we all had lunch at Hooters .  Did that harm me? Should I have I complained? Was it a one time laspe of judgement or indicative of a hostile work environment?

Or,  I wasn’t considered for an internal position several years back –  around the same time one of the bosses asked me if I could travel to a client site when I had kids at home.  The guy they hired for the job, which required a lot of travel,  had more kids than me, but he also had more relevant experience.  Then he was given a better office and title. Were these gender-based decisions or just a series of  unrelated events? With hindsight and distance, I recognize the  pattern. But in  the moment, it was hard to see clearly.

Subtle discrimination can be challenging to identify and the long-term effects can remain hidden indefinitely. Building a case  is not easy as an individual, or as a member of a class. Women have plenty at stake tomorrow, as the outcome of this case could set the tone for future cases.

Corporate America is concerned too. Walmart could face billions of dollars in damages. Twenty U.S. companies have expressed support for Walmart. They are worried a ruling against the retailer could open the “floodgates” for countless and baseless claims.

This will be one to watch.

 

 

Guest Post: Pretty Young Professionals

February 11, 2011
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The following post was written by Amanda Pouchot, co-founder of Pretty Young Professional.

Pretty Young Professional Logo

Resources for young, professional women

I don’t care what they say about progress: women are still lagging behind.  Although women make up more than half of all college graduates and PhD candidates, they only account for 3% of Fortune 500 CEOs.

Today we enter a professional world filled with opportunities that were not available to generations of women before us. It is clear that women are a lasting cornerstone of the workforce, but many of us lack the support we need to succeed.

In addition to new opportunities for career advancement, today’s young women also face insurmountable pressures to look perfect, to act perfectly, to do it all.  We have been overscheduled all of our lives; excelling academically, involved in extracurricular activities and developing many necessary leadership skills.  Yet throughout our youth we were fed media that portrayed an image of the ideal woman – and let me tell you, she wasn’t the breadwinner.

Faced with this conundrum, young women today are often stuck between the excellence we seek and the societal stereotypes that tell us to play nice and put others’ needs first.  What’s a young professional woman to do?

We all can be overwhelmed by uncertainty, wondering what the future will bring

For many young professionals, the lingering question of who we are becoming and what we will do with the rest of our lives is constantly on our minds.  As younger women, our lives often revolved around set paths, usually formal education with specific steps to success.  Suddenly, a tremendous number of life decisions and career options become available.

Many of us feel pressured to make these choices quickly, and unprepared to make them at all.  What if you make the wrong decision? What if you pass up an incredible opportunity?  What if you can’t find a job? What if you end up hating your job? What if, what if, what if?

How do we choose a career and then secure that next job?

Feeling disoriented is normal when everything around you seems to be changing.  In order to help ourselves and others overcome this same feeling, we asked several career specialists for ideas and exercises to identify your passions:

1. Take your excitement pulse for a week – What gets you excited when you wake up in the morning? What is your favorite part of your day? When do you get in the flow or groove of something?  Also reflect on things that you find the most draining. Write all of this down for the week and reflect on the highs and the lows.

2. Record yourself talking for a full 60 seconds about who you are and how you define yourself – When you play it back, listen for what you emphasized, what matters to you, and what you omitted.

3. Look to your friends and family for help – Ask those closest to you to write 3 sentences about you.  You may be shocked to see what they write!

Once you’ve identified your passions, it’s time to translate that into a career.  Understand the difference between “can do” and “want to do” and then look at jobs that play to your passions and strengths.

From the outside in, identifying the real pros and cons of a career can be difficult.  What does it actually mean to be a Sales Associate?  A25 year old junior I-Banker?  An actress or singer working for a living?  .

For women who are elsewhere in their career path, we think it’s important to keep an eye on work-life balance.  Being a young professional woman in the workplace can be tougher than one would expect.

We also face societal pressures that men don’t.

After the age of 13, women are twice as likely to face depression as our male counterparts.  This is often the result of what one Psychologist, Dr. Hinshaw, calls The Triple Bind:

1. Be pretty, sweet, and nice

2. Be athletic, be competitive, and get straight As

3. Be impossibly perfect

Women fight for respect and advancement in the workplace, but haven’t been socialized the way men have to successfully negotiate and self-promote. (For more information, check out Women Don’t Ask, by economist Linda Babcock)

Women also don’t have as many role models in place to demonstrate paths to personal and professional fulfillment

While our generation is embarking on a road paved by women before us, there are still many barriers to advancement.  In 2010 women accounted for approximately 16% of both Fortune 500 Board Seats and Corporate Officer positions at Fortune 500 companies (Women in U.S. Management” Catalyst December 2010).  In my first position out of college, I was discouraged to see few women managing both successful careers and a “normal” family life.  Men in their same tenures often had a stay-at-home wife, while the women had to choose between work and family.

Women face stereotypes because of our femininity or lack of femininity

Being young, ambitious and female is not easy.  When we started our careers in 2008, freshly out of college and newly moved to NYC, each of us felt – in her own way — very alone.  Many lessons we learned in those first months could have been learned in an easier way.  Being young and female does not compromise our confidence, talent, and drive to be taken seriously as professionals.

For more information, check out www.prettyyoungprofessional.com or follow them on Twitter @PYPro. Pretty Young Professional (PYP) is an online community for ambitious women ages 18-30.

Hello Ladies is now posting exciting career opportunities for women. Visit our Jobs page.

2010 Political Review (Slideshow)

December 31, 2010
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Here is a look back at just a few of the political stories we were talking about in 2010. What do you think 2011 will bring?

Women’s Progress in Executive Suite Flat Fifth Year in a Row

December 14, 2010
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Stop me if you think that you’ve heard this one before.  

Women have made no gains in the corporate boardroom or the executive suite in the last year. Nor have women increased their presence among companies’ top earners, according to the 2010 Catalyst Census: Fortune 500 Women Board Directors and the 2010 Catalyst Census: Fortune 500 Women Executive Officers and Top Earners released yesterday.

According to the report,

  • Women held just 15.7 percent of board seats in 2010 rep resenting a mere 0.5 percentage points above 2009.
  • Women held only 14.4 percent of executive officer positions, up from 13.5 percent in 2009.
  • And as far as earning the big bucks, in 2010, women executive officers held only 7.6 percent of the top earner positions, up from 6.3 percent in 2009.

And progress was flat as far as the number of companies with no women serving on the board of directors (more than 10 percent) and the number of companies with no women executive officers. This is the fifth year women’s progress has remained flat. This is what we are talking about when we refer to the glass ceiling. Women still face both obvious and subtle barriers on their way to the corner office.

In fact, additional research from Catalyst (Mentoring: Necessary But Insufficient for Advancement,) shows that mentoring, long thought to be an effective tool for advancing a career, is more effective for men than women. According to the data, “men with mentors had starting salaries in their first post-MBA jobs that were, on average, $9,260 higher than the starting salaries of women with mentors.” The data also shows men receive more promotions than women and those promotions come with bigger raises – 21 percent vs. women’s two percent.

What does appear to be an effective strategy for advancing women, according to the research, is sponsorship, when a senior-level person advocates for a woman inside the organization. The learning here is that the traditional diversity and women’s programs are not enough. They are a good start, but businesses must put some muscle behind their memos. It’s the same reason we need legislation to support fair pay. The Equal Pay Act and the Lilly Ledbetter Act represent progress, but they don’t solve the problem of unfair wages.

Businesses would do well to recognize the benefits of a diverse management team and take the steps to get there. Women are half the workforce and represent half the talent pool.  And doesn’t it just make sense that if a business is trying to reach a diverse (read not just white male) customer base, it should add different perspectives to its corporate thought process?

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