Is there a Society Imposed Gender Wage Gap?

This question was posed to me by Stacy Meineke - http://www.staceymeineke.com/ - Sr designer, studio artist, wood worker and traveler who creates inspiring color pallets, beautiful furniture and polished advertising for big shops like MullenLowe, 72 & Sunny, Anomaly and others.

Stacey asked me the best question:

Is there an actual society-imposed gender wage gap, or does it come down to whomever is better at demanding a higher salary? 

These are two issues that are feeding into each other.  Women aren’t asking for what they need/deserve, they are asking for what they think is ok - what won’t be a burden.

On top of that there is a wage gap.  Some would argue that it’s less of a gap in the advertising and marketing industry, and I have had quite a few positive experiences myself with organizations who are really making the effort to close the gap such as Publicis, IPG and Omnicom.  But we still have so much work to do and as our friend GI Joe often said, “Knowledge is half the battle”!

There are several things driving the fair pay movement in agencies, and I want to personally thank the millenials and Gen Z for their constant push for transparency and to have work cultures that work for them, not just places they work at.

Now if you live in California you can ask what the salary range for a role is and they have to disclose.  Many other states have added laws that are helping close the gap so do some homework before you start searching.  It is also illegal not to disclose salary ranges in Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Oregon and Vermont - some localities with these bans include Cincinnati (starting in 2020), New York City, Philadelphia (pending a legal challenge), Puerto Rico and San Francisco, as well as several counties in New York.

I am also personally seeing huge growth in HR teams taking that extra step of making sure all people are paid in a very close range for the same level of work.

Some of you may have heard of the 3%movement for pay equality within agency life and you can see which agencies have committed to ending pay disparity.  If you want to read more about the movement and find out which agencies are pledging to be part of the solution - please check out the 3 percent movement.

https://www.3percentmovement.com/pledge

Now to speak to the second part of the question - are we not being paid what we deserve because women are not negotiating strongly?

YES!  This is a HUGE issue.  In over 20 years, nearly every money conversation I have had with a woman starts with a long validation of why they are asking for the rate they are - my experience, my awards, my hard work - rather than just saying - my rate is x - my goal is x.  Most of you are highly if not overqualified.  Overall I also find that female candidates are much less likely to inflate their skill set and that they have really done their research as to what they should be paid, so put your voice to it. 

 In my experience, men walk into interviews all the time that they aren’t even fully qualified for, and ask for the top range of the salary.  That is it - they just ask.  I want X.  NO long qualifying statement (or short).  Just their ask.  

What can everyone take away from this?

This is key - state your number - then stop talking.  Let the client disclose what they have and how they can work with your #.  If they ask you for flexibility, make them define the responsibilities and why that would be appropriate/or what other compensation or growth might be available.  Make them sell it to you.  

Then - tell them you will think about it and get back to them.  Sound excited on the spot, but you are still take that thinking time!

If you value yourself and put that value out there people will value you at that level.

Happy Negotiating!