Posts Tagged ‘ gender gap ’

Ignorant Legislator of the Week

April 10, 2012
By

Senator Glenn GrothmanDo you know why women earn less than men? According to Senator Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin, this week’s Ignorant Legislator recipient, money isn’t as important to us as it is to men. Grothman told The Daily Beast‘s Michelle Goldberg, “You could argue that money is more important for men. I think a guy in their first job, maybe because they expect to be a breadwinner someday, may be a little more money-conscious. To attribute everything to a so-called bias in the workplace is just not true.” And to attribute it to an outdated and sexist idea, Senator, is just not rational. According to the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic data, approximately 40 percent of working wives out earn their husbands.

Grothman told Goldberg the gender wage gap was caused by women’s decisions to “prioritize childrearing over their careers,” and that the hypothetical working wife is “not go go go.” Grothman clearly hasn’t seen the time use data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics either. If he had, he might know, women, on average, do more household chores than men. This is a scenario that occurs regardless of work status. Of course, we wouldn’t expect Grothman to consider that lack of sick time and affordable childcare affect women more so than men. And most  working mothers are “go go go” from kitchen to daycare to work to daycare to kitchen and then probably back to email five days per week.

There’s an article circulating on the Internet, “Sheryl Sandberg Leaves Work at 5:30. Why Can’t You?”  If you read past the headline you learn that no, the COO of Facebook isn’t superwoman able to run one of the hottest companies in a mere 8 hours a day. You learn that as a working mother, in order to leave the office at 5:30 at night in order to eat dinner with her children, Sandberg has been known to log on to her work email at 5:30 in the morning and again late at night. And if Grothman talked to the working mothers of Wisconsin I bet he’d meet a lot of “money conscious” women who do the grocery shopping, and know the costs of kids’ clothes, school activities and doctor’s visits, and who are looking a their accounts trying to determine how they will fund orthodontia and college and retirement.

Wisconsin, in case you hadn’t heard, just repealed the state’s Equal Pay Enforcement Act, thereby preventing  victims of workplace discrimination from seeking damages in state courts. And Grothman, in case you hadn’t heard, is the same legislator who earlier this year introduced a bill that would require  the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board “to emphasize nonmarital parenthood as a contributing factor to child abuse and neglect.”

We think he’s a worthy recipient of this week’s award. Do you agree?

 

 

What Should We Do About Sexism and Bachmann?

January 5, 2012
By

Michele Bachmann

Let’s not waste time debating whether sexism was a factor in Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann’s failed bid for president. It was. Let’s instead focus on what we will do about it. Because something needs to be done.

Not that we wanted to see Bachmann in the White House. God no. But nor do we want to see Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, Rick Perry or any other anti-woman candidate get elected. But why is Bachmann going home and not the other non-Romneys? For several reasons.

First, there is a double standard at work. Susan Mulligan at U.S. News points out, “Michele Bachmann, the Tea Party-approving Republican Congresswoman from Minnesota, has said some crazy things… All of that provides a solid basis for questioning her as a candidate and wondering whether she’s suited for the Oval Office. But has Bachmann said or done anything more bizarre than some of her opponents, including several who are above her in polling in Iowa?” Not really.

Second, women don’t “look presidential.” Remember when Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen wrote, “I can think of no reason why anyone who, for some unaccountable reason, supports Michele Bachmann will not move over to Perry… Perry, who actually looks like a president …” Women don’t look presidential because we’ve never seen a woman president. And people from Iowa (as well as Mississippi) have never elected a woman to their congressional delegation or as governor.  My state of Massachusetts has never elected a woman senator or governor. And the list goes on leaving the Unites States ranking 40th in the world for women’s political empowerment.

Third, the media skews the news. We knew this when Hillary Clinton ran for president. Now we have data to prove it. Paul Bedard, also at U.S. News recently wrote, “Two new scholarly studies that blow the whistle on the industry’s lopsided reliance on male reporters find that the media first belittled (Hillary Clinton’s) effort against Barack Obama, then jumped the gun to push her out of the race earlier than any other recent strong primary challenger.” Remember Bachman’s Newsweek cover photo? Case in point.

One could argue, as a conservative, Bachmann faced a greater challenge than a liberal candidate. As Amanda Marcotte wrote for Reuters, “As a conservative female politician with an evangelical base, Bachmann was forced to hang her ambitions on voters who believe in traditional gender roles. …The problems arise when anti-feminist women start to seek real power for themselves. …That base is unable to grant serious power to a woman, no matter how much she promised to use it to disempower other women.”

Patricia Murphy quotes two such women in The Washington Post. “Jeanne Jennings of Johnston, Iowa, for instance, said Tuesday night that she likes Bachmann very much indeed, but chose to caucus for Rick Santorum instead. ‘I was for Michele Bachmann for a long time. I read her book. Wonderful book, wonderful family, wonderful person,” Jennings said. “But then I just started thinking about being presidential and I don’t know that we’re ready for a woman for president. I think what we really need to do is get Rick Santorum for president and Michele Bachmann for vice president.’” And, “Georgiana Cleveland from Boone, Iowa, said the same: ‘I guess maybe we here are not quite ready for a women president.’”

Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America, wrote about why she backed Santorum at FOXNews.com “Michele Bachmann was a serious candidate, a fierce competitor, and an excellent communicator. She made everyone in the race better, because she made them define their conservative credentials. This wasn’t her year, but mark my words, her day will come.” When?

After Martha Coakley lost the Massachusetts Senate seat to Scott Brown last winter Politico reported on the unions’ response to her candidacy, “Massachusetts labor leaders expressed frustration at the anti-woman bias in their ranks. ‘I’m not voting for the broad’ is the message Teamster leader Robert Cullinane told POLITICO he’s hearing.” With men like that, we need women to rally.

Whether you are conservative, moderate or liberal, electing women needs to be a priority because:

  • Women are 51 percent of the population but only 17 percent of Congress and that’s not representative government.
  • Last year, 1,100 pieces of legislation about women’s reproductive health were introduced — by a majority male legislative body.
  • And our daughters, who we promise can grow up and be anything they want, need to see what they want to be. Where are their role models?

In The Hello Ladies Guide to Sexism in Politics, we talk about why sexism in matters:

Sexism hurts. A 2010 poll by Lake Research Partners revealed that “even mild sexist language has an impact on voters’ likelihood to vote for a female candidate and on how favorable they feel toward a woman seeking office.” The Inter-Parliamentary Union, an organization whose mission is to establish representative democracy across the globe, sees gender parity as the path to democracy stating, “The concept of democracy will only assume true and dynamic significance when political policies and national legislation are decided upon jointly by men and women with equitable regard for the interests and aptitudes of both halves of the population.”

So what do we do?

  • We need to call out sexism when we see it. Organizations like Name It Change It allow people to report sexist coverage and then call on the media outlets to change behavior.
  • We need to contribute to and volunteer on women’s campaigns. It takes a lot of money and people to get someone elected.
  • We need to lose the phrase, I want to support a woman candidate but….,” and vote for women if they are qualified AND support women’s rights.
  • We need to run for office.  Organizations like She Should Run, The White House Project, The 2012 Project and Ready to Run offer support and coaching for women seeking office. If not you, then who?

 

 

If I Were Santa

December 14, 2011
By

Santa's gift bagIf I were Santa, I’d be making my list and checking it twice. And here are the gifts I would give:

For Our Daughters: The gift of self-esteem and positive role models

The mass media perpetuates a message that women and girls’ value comes from beauty and sexuality – and it affects us. Sixty-five percent of women and girls have an eating disorder. Eighty percent of the op-ed pages are dominated by men. The number of women in senior management positions globally has gone from 24 to 20 percent from 2004 to 2009.

For Corporate America: More women in leadership positions

There is a large, and growing, body of research connecting women at the tops of organizations to a strong bottom line performance. However, 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.

 

For Working Mothers: Flexible work arrangements … and a day of rest

The life of a working mother is challenging. Flexible work arrangements give parents the ability to work more flexibly and better manage the challenges of work and family.

For Working Families: Passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act

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. 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.”

For All Women: The ratification of CEDAW

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is an international treaty that supports fundamental human rights and equality for women around the world. CEDAW was adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly. To date, 186 of 193 countries have ratified the treaty. The United States has not.

For President Obama: The courage to stand up for women’s reproductive rights

Women helped President Obama get elected in 2008 and they can be expected to play a major role in the 2012 election too. In return, women need Obama to take a stronger stance on women’s rights, and in particular, women’s reproductive health – regardless of the pressures he’s facing from his opponents.

For the GOP: The Sanctity of Life

The US ranks poorly for infant mortality rates and maternal death rates; more than two women die every day from pregnancy related causes. Yet many lawmakers try to block women’s access to much-needed health services, supposedly  in the name of life. For Christmas, we want to give them the gift of truly honoring the sanctity of life – all life – and to see them work toward improving the health and life of mothers.

For Massachusetts: A woman Senator

Massachusetts has never sent a woman to the Senate. Although 51 percent of the U.S. population is female, women hold just 16.5 percent of the seats in Congress. That puts the US at 69th in the world for gender parity. We need more women in office.

For Victims of Domestic Violence: Hope

Domestic violence victims and their advocates need money to gain freedom from abuse, to protect children from abusive partners or ex-partners and develop public policy efforts related to domestic violence. Please donate and give them support and hope.

What gifts would you give? You can add to my list at The Skinny Scoop.

 

Guest Post: Why 2012 Could Be a Banner Year for Women

July 15, 2011
By

PoliticianThe recent series of sex scandals involving male politicians has generated lots of discussion in the media about the need for more women in elected office. Would women be less likely than men to behave badly? It’s hard to say but also irrelevant. What the media failed to point out is that we need more women. Not because they might subject the public to fewer headlines regarding extramarital affairs, but because women are dramatically underrepresented in public office.

Looking at the make-up of the 112th Congress, the numbers are staggeringly bad. Although 51 percent of the U.S. population is female, women hold 89, or 16.5 percent of the 535 seats — 17, or 17.0 percent, of the 100 seats in the Senate and 72, or 16.5 percent, of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives. That puts the US at 69th in the world for gender parity, according to the Inter Parliamentary Union.

The problem, however, is not that women aren’t winning elections, it’s that they aren’t running for office. This is why political strategist Mary Hughes created The 2012 Project, a campaign of Rutgers’ Center for American Women and Politics. It’s a nonpartisan, national campaign to recruit record numbers of women to run for Congress and state legislatures in 2012. The 2012 Project functions as a matchmaker. “We inspire women to step forward, and connect them with fundraising networks, training programs and think tanks in their states. We identify them, and then we entrust them to folks with relevant expertise,” says Hughes.

The last time there was a significant increase of women in the Congress was in 1992, when 24 new women were elected to the House. But 1992 wasn’t an accident. It was the combined result of a favorable climate partially created by the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearings as well as a coordinated effort to reach out to potential candidates.

Similar to 1992, the election of 2012 presents a once-in-a-decade opportunity for women to increase their numbers in office. Following the 2010 census, every congressional and state legislative district in the country is being redrawn. Reapportionment creates opportunity, and research shows that women have more success winning open seats. Of the 24 women who were elected in 1992, 22 ran for open seats.

While it’s all fine and good to hear pundits call for the need for more women in office, they won’t win if they don’t run. Hughes believes the media’s call for more women should be taken as a compliment.  “It means there is a general recognition that women in public office take their jobs seriously,” she says. The opportunity of the 2012 election should be taken equally seriously if we want to see gender parity in government. 2022 is too long to wait.

The 2012 Project is a national, non-partisan campaign to increase the number of women in Congress and state legislatures by taking advantage of the once-in-a-decade opportunities of 2012.

More resources for women interested in elected office:

She Should Run

The White House Project

Ready to Run

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Why We Need the Paycheck Fairness Act

June 22, 2011
By

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)

 

 

The Impact of Women on the GDP

May 3, 2011
By

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
By

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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Invest in Mothers

April 20, 2011
By

Mother at computer holding babyRecently I attended an event for entrepreneurs looking to accelerate their businesses. The event was billed as an opportunity to hear from leaders about how they’ve propelled their companies in terms of product development, technology, sales and marketing. Following the presentations, attendees were encouraged to eat lunch in groups dedicated to specific topics and facilitated by experts.

There were eleven presenters. One was a woman. There were twelve lunch experts. Not one of them was a women.

I asked the organizers where the women were. The answers ranged from (and I paraphrase), “I try to get women here every year. I think it’s too hard for women to start companies,” to “I can’t speak for women.”

I heard a similar refrain at another start-up focused event last month. A man there told me women aren’t willing to put in the hard work and the hours to run a company. Really? Tell that to Ursula Burns, Oprah Winfrey, Anne Mulcahey, Indra Nooyi and countless other women who run lesser-known businesses.

Perhaps the answer lies here: an estimated 90 percent of all venture funding goes to men and venture capital is a key ingredient for growth. The venture industry is predominantly male. This translates to fewer and less powerful networks and connections for women making it more difficult to get in front of key investors. When they do get in the door, it isn’t as easy for them to relate to the money men.

Don’t believe me? Read this. Paige Craig, CEO of BetterWorks and an investor with Good Angel, confesses in Business Insider that he almost didn’t fund a pregnant woman’s business  because of doubts he had she could start a company, lead a team, carry and then care for a child.

Perhaps I should be grateful Craig was honest and started an important dialogue. But actually, his article irks me. The insurance companies insist on labeling childbirth as a disability, but it’s not. Our bodies were built to have children. The many doctor’s appointments, and the frequent trips to bathroom during pregnancy do take time, but women still manage to get things done. We have smart phones now. We can check email and make calls from the waiting room at the OBs office.

And why is the idea that having a child is a great motivator for women so rare? I go to work every day to feed my children. I work hard so I can give my children excellent opportunities. I strive to make a positive impact in the world, because my children will inherit the results. And when I walk through the front door every night and see my kids, I gain invaluable perspective that fuels my effectiveness on the job.

Mother’s don’t check out. Mothers go through life with a heightened sense of awareness and of purpose. Work with us, harness that, and trust me, you’ll like the results.

Read the response from the entrepreneur Craig did ultimately fund. She says she has no interest in fitting the typical start-up CEO profile. She hopes to model for others a path that, “includes sharing their entrepreneurial journey (and, the financial and social upside they will create) with people who know their story, their context, maybe even their families, and believe in them all the more because of it.” Are men that different?

Last night, I had to have a talk with my daughter because she broke a serious rule. I was disappointed and concerned and wanted to tell her. But I chose a softer delivery so that she would feel comfortable talking with me the next time we needed to have an honest conversation. I know, I know. I should take a similar approach with Craig. So please forgive my initial crankiness. It’s just that  it baffles me that in 2011 the concept of women as capable, motivated providers, is still foreign to some.

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Discuss Amongst Yourselves

April 20, 2011
By

Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer at Facebook, discusses why we have too few women leaders, at TED. It’s worth the watch.

And for more on why we have too few women speakers at TED, check this out from C.V. Harquail and then join the “She Should Talk at TED” group on Facebook

Practical advice for closing the wage gap

March 9, 2011
By
Money tree

Practical ways to earn more

If I had .23 cents for every time I wrote about why men should care about the wage gap, I could buy a venti nonfat latte. So imagine my delight when I heard about GetRaised, an online service that helps people determine whether or not they are underpaid, and gives them tools to do something about it.

GetRaised was developed by the team at Churnless, a company that develops strategy and products that drive behavioral change. “Entrepreneur Avi Karnani and Behavioral Psychologist Matt Wallaert, our co-heads, worked together at Thrive, a free personal finance management site, so we do a lot of work in that area: at the intersection of life and money,” says Dave Clarke, Communications Strategist at GetRaised.com. “While we were working on Thrive, there was a lot of discussion about the fact that even if people cut their spending way down, they still could only work with the money coming in the door and sometimes that just wasn’t enough.” (Which is exactly one of the reasons men should care about the wage gap.)

“There’s also the idea of narrowing the gender-wage gap,” continues Clarke. “When our scientist was looking at the Thrive data, he noticed that women were actually better savers than men in that they were saving a higher percentage of their income, but because their income was so much lower, they were actually saving less money in total. So we started saying ‘what can we do about that?’ GetRaised is what we came up with.”

The site is interesting. One of the oft-cited reasons for the wage gap is that women don’t negotiate as often as men for higher starting salaries and raises. On GetRaised, you can compare your salary against the salaries of people in your area with similar qualifications. By asking a series of questions about your short and long-term goals, GetRaised generates a customized raise request kit in the form of a letter to your boss. The site also takes you through how to schedule a meeting and use the letter to discuss compensation.

GetRaised isn’t free. It costs $20 to use. However, it comes with a money-back guarantee. If you don’t get a raise within six months of using the site, you get a full refund.

I tried GetRaised, and while it determined that my compensation is on track, it still helped me prepare for my next review. I have a personalized toolkit for my next salary negotiation that clearly outlines both my contributions to my employer and my short-term goals to help the business.

Pleased with the result, and curious to know more about the wage gap from a man’s perspective, I asked Wallaert, a Behavioral Psychologist, a few questions.

Q. In your opinion, what are the reasons for the wage gap?

“As a scientist, I’m not so good with opinion, so let me start by telling you what we know and then some of what I think.

“Starting salary is part of it. Women don’t tend to negotiate starting salaries to the same degree as men, and so because they start with less, they simply don’t receive as much for the rest of their working lives, because raises are based on your previous salary.

“Time out of workplace is part of it. Women, more so than men, tend to take time off for child rearing, etc. And this puts them behind in the workplace, because they lose years of work experience – a little bit like if you started working at 35 instead of 25 in your first entry-level job, you simply never catch up in terms of seniority of both position and pay.

“And finally, raises are a part of it. Women ask for raises less often, and then when they do ask, they make what we call ‘emotional appeals’ – statements like ‘I need”, ‘I want’, and ‘I deserve’. And we know that because of that, they ultimately get fewer raises.

“As to what I think? I think that all of those are true, and the extent to which they are true varies individually – when we talk about women as a whole, people need to understand that individual cases may vary. I also think that the starting salary and raise portions are ridiculous. We socialize women to be ‘polite’ and that for them, that means not asking for things or negotiating. And then we penalize them for doing that! That’s just stupid. And it is that anger that caused us to make GetRaised. We are specifically trying to fix this problem.”

Q. Much was written last year about the gender gap reversing – some childless and I believe single women were outearning their male counterparts. Are mothers getting hit harder than non-mothers?

“Yes, for the reasons I noted above. Some scholars question, however, whether that should be part of the discussion about the wage gap. Taking time off work for kids is voluntary, just as taking a hiatus from work for any other reason is also a choice. And we can have a long discussion about our personal feelings about whether mothering is voluntary and should be encouraged and such, but I don’t think it is quite in the same class as penalizing women because they aren’t comfortable negotiating.

Q. So much is written about the fact that women don’t negotiate. They accept starting salaries and they don’t ask for raises with the same frequency men do. Why do you think that is?

“That’s an epic and difficult question. You’re basically saying ‘what makes women different than men?’, which I’m pretty sure I can’t answer. But let me take a bit of a stab. We’re not sure if there is a biological brain component to this, or at least I’m unconvinced by evidence that that is much of an effect. But I do believe that we socialize women not to ask for things, and there is some strong evidence that they grow up with those beliefs. Intrinsic to our idea of femininity is still this idea of being polite, well-mannered, and absent of need. Look at sex! We had a woman run for president in this country and get darn close to making it, and yet many women still believe that they can’t or shouldn’t ask for sex.

“Fortunately, I also think these things are changing, in all sorts of different realms. We’re teaching women that asking is not only OK, but something that they need to do to advance. Hence GetRaised. Hence the Girl Scout badge for negotiation.

Q. What advice do you have for underpaid women?

“Use GetRaised.com, clearly. And if you don’t want to, then do all the things you would do there. First, get the facts and find out whether you really are underpaid, or whether you just feel underpaid (or overworked). To do that, check out the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s (try the OES data; warning, it can be a bit dense). Then, find out what the going rate in your area is for your position: SimplyHired.com and Indeed.com can both help you search local job listings to find out what open job postings are paying for your position. Then prepare to ask for your raise. Try to avoid emotion, and put yourself in your boss’ shoes: what information would they need to make this decision? Ask for a specific number that is based on what you find from the job listings and OES data. Be prepared to say what you have done since you last got a raise, and your short- and long-term goals with the company.”

Q. When, if ever, do you think the wage gap will close?

“If I had my way, tomorrow: the only gaps that would exist would be where there are true gaps based on performance, not based on gender or race or other factors. In reality? It is hard to predict. I think that every time a woman asks for a raise, she’s bringing wage equity one day closer. I hope that by building GetRaised, we’re bringing it closer. But really, it comes down to women taking action: we can build the tools, do the education, give the interviews, but we need women to really step up and really push on this in order for it to change.”

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