Showing posts with label WAGE GAP. Show all posts

Saturday, June 27, 2015

It may take more than just female managers to close the gender wage gap

IMAGE: STUDIO ZOO/IMAGEZOO/CORBIS

Women help women. At least that is what happens in the ideal workplace, particularly as women rise to management positions and use their power and influence to promote female employees whose careers and earnings may have been stifled by gender discrimination.

Research shows that women in the United States make 78 cents for every dollar a man earns, partly as a result of bias. Experts have watched women climb the managerial ranks and noticed a subsequent decline in the wage gap between female and male employees. The two trends, they have argued, appear related.

SEE ALSO: Women still make less than men, and it costs them billions every year

A forthcoming study in the American Journal of Sociology, however, suggests female managers don't necessarily aid their female employees. In some cases, women might fare worse under female managers.

The study, co-authored by U.C. Berkeley Haas School of Business Assistant Professor Sameer B. Srivastava, looked at the employment records of 1,701 employees at an unnamed information services company. Their records included salary and performance evaluations.

The female employees earned $56,920 on average compared to $72,295 for men. When the researchers controlled for factors like experience and age, they found that women made 17% less than men.

After analyzing performance reviews and salary data between 2005 and 2009, they discovered that there was no statistically significant advantage for women when they switched from a male to a female manager. A smaller subset of lower-performing female employees actually made 30% less than their male peers, when assigned to a higher-performing female boss.

The findings are not necessarily surprising. Researchers have long debated whether or not female managers are “agents of change” or “cogs in the machine.”

When women are agents of change, they are eager to make the workplace less hostile to their female subordinates, and reward their hard work with pay equity.

When women are agents of change, they are eager to make the workplace less hostile to their female subordinates, and reward their hard work with pay equity. But when female managers are “cogs” they have no effect on the wage gap, and may even exacerbate it. In this scenario, women may believe that men are more competent than women, whether they realize it or not.

All of this is complicated by women's relationships to their female co-workers, which are often influenced by what is known as “competitive threat” and “collective threat.” A low-performing female manager might treat an employee harshly or less fairly if she’s being outperformed by her –- hence the threat by competition.

On the other hand, a low-performing female employee might make her superior look bad, and her boss is already worried about being perceived as less competent than her male peers. As a result, she deems that employee as less valuable, and likely underserving of a raise or promotion.

Srivastava told Mashable that it’s not clear if the high-performing female managers in his study treated the lower-performing women differently because of collective threat, though it is a strong possibility.

While the study, which focused on a single company, can’t be generalized to all female managers, Srivastava said that the findings suggest businesses must do more than just appoint more women to leadership positions.

“It’s probably wishful thinking that that, by itself, will close the gender wage gap,” he said.

"It's one thing to have more women in management and another to have an organizational culture that promotes gender equality."

"It's one thing to have more women in management and another to have an organizational culture that promotes gender equality."

Catherine Hill, vice president of research for the American Association of University Women, a nonprofit organization that promotes gender equality, said that she wasn't surprised by Srivastava's findings. Previous research has shown that both men and women believe stereotypes about gender, often unconsciously.

Hill said that female managers should honestly assess their opinions on gender in the workplace, and maybe even take animplicit bias test to learn if they have biased attitudes about women's competency. (Men, of course, can take the test too.) They should also use objective measures to evaluate employees, particularly when looking at the contributions of a female charge who seems to be contributing less than her co-workers.

These situations deserve special attention, Hill said, because supervisors frequently rely on their gut reaction when making a decision about a less-than-impressive employee. The only problem is that those instincts may actually be shaped by bias. "Use evidence whenever possible," she said.

Closing the pay gap has become a popular issue. It was the subject of Patricia Arquette's Oscarspeech, Hillary Clinton has mentioned it on the campaign trail, and even the Pope has called for fair pay.

Now the challenge is translating that support into real change at the most basic level: the relationship between a manager and her employee.

Thursday, June 25, 2015

It may take more than just female managers to close the gender wage gap

IMAGE: STUDIO ZOO/IMAGEZOO/CORBIS

BY REBECCA RUIZ1 DAY AGO

SEE ALSO: Women still make less than men, and it costs them billions every year

A forthcoming study in the American Journal of Sociology, however, suggests female managers don't necessarily aid their female employees. In some cases, women might fare worse under female managers.

The female employees earned $56,920 on average compared to $72,295 for men. When the researchers controlled for factors like experience and age, they found that women made 17% less than men.

The findings are not necessarily surprising. Researchers have long debated whether or not female managers are “agents of change” or “cogs in the machine.”

When women are agents of change, they are eager to make the workplace less hostile to their female subordinates, and reward their hard work with pay equity.

“It’s probably wishful thinking that that, by itself, will close the gender wage gap,” he said.

"It's one thing to have more women in management and another to have an organizational culture that promotes gender equality."

"It's one thing to have more women in management and another to have an organizational culture that promotes gender equality."

Now the challenge is translating that support into real change at the most basic level: the relationship between a manager and her employee.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Cosmetics and fragrance maker Coty said Elio Leoni Sceti, who was scheduled to become its CEO in about a

3 things to know about closing the gender wage gap

IMAGE: FLICKR, KEONI CABRAL

BY STEPHANIE WALDEN1 DAY AGO

Most of us have heard the disheartening "78 cents" statistic whenever discussions about the gender pay gap arise. The stat itself stems from a 2013 U.S. Census Bureau report, which found that women make approximately 78 cents to the dollar of what men earn. The findings appear to get even more grim for women of color: According to the same report, African American women and Latinas earn just 64 and 56 cents to the dollar of what men earn, respectively.

While these stats aren't universally accepted as fact (according to PEW research, women earn approximately 84% of what men make and other studies cite the percentage somewhere around 82%), it's clear that the gender wage gap persists in some capacity.

SEE ALSO: Women still make less than men, and it costs them billions every year

There's a great deal of debate over why this is the case, and the past few years have seen increasing awareness among companies and a whole lot of big promises from large corporations. Even celebrities are getting in on the action: In a now-infamous and controversial outburst at this year's Academy Awards, actress Patricia Arquette used her acceptance speech to call for equal pay for men and women in Hollywood.

Giving voice to the issue is just one way to begin making progress, however. Here's what we know about what it's going to take the close the gap.

1. Companies are talking about it, but lofty promises aren't enough

More and more employers are pledging to take action to close the gender pay gap. Companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft and the like have released "diversity reports" detailing the breakdown of women and minorities currently employed within the organizations. A Glassdoor report from last year further detailed how salaries stack up at tech companies. But although many companies admit they must "do better," studies show that the gender wage gap has hardly budged in the past decade — and it widens as the workforce ages.

There are companies taking a stand — though whether it's "enough" is debatable. Apple recentlycommitted more than $50 million toward diversity efforts. Some smaller companies are taking action in unique ways: For example, SumAll, a cross-platform marketing analytics company, employs a policy of "salary transparency," which means all employees know what their colleagues earn. The premise, SumAll CEO Dane Atkinson told NPR in a recent Planet Money podcast, is to establish trust between employee and employer.

"Equal pay audits" are another potential fix. This practice, which has primarily gained ground as a concept in the UK, helps companies conduct analyses and determine best practices for establishing a corporate culture of equality, particularly when it comes to salaries and benefits. A recent UK report on the gender wage gap among university professors touts these audits as one way to close the nearly £6,000 gap that currently exists within the industry.

And pending legislation may make a difference down the line. The Paycheck Fairness Act aims to cut down income disparity between men and women in the U.S. The act would add procedural protections to the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the Fair Labor Standards Act in order to bridge the gender wage gap.

2. Women can — and should — take steps to negotiate equal pay

While nobody is suggesting it's a woman's sole responsibility to ensure she's earning as much as her male counterparts — the issue is inarguably a larger societal problem — there are proactive steps that women can take to get a leg up. One of the primary ways to do this is by negotiating salary during the job search process.

"It truly amazes me how many women have no idea what their job should pay," says Katie Donovan, the founder and CEO of Equal Pay Negotiations LLC, a company that teaches women about salary negotiations through one-on-one mentoring, workshops, online courses and a mobile app.

"Absolutely anyone can negotiate. You can be a jerk about it or you can be professional about it. That's a big difference. But it's a normal part of business,"

"Absolutely anyone can negotiate. You can be a jerk about it or you can be professional about it. That's a big difference. But it's a normal part of business," she says.

Donovan created her company after discovering during a professional dinner with eight well-educated women that she was the only one of the group who had negotiated her salary. This discovery sparked a thought: "I just kept thinking of my nieces who are 17 to 26-years-old in age. I don't want them to be 20 years into their careers having the exact same conversation with their friends." Now, Donovan dedicates her career toward helping other women excel in theirs and, in particular, ensure that they're adequately compensated.

"The key to good salary negotiations is first to be an informed consumer about what the job should pay," she says. "If you do research, it usually includes information about men and women's salaries — so if you think you should earn the median, that's artificially low. We want to earn what the men are earning at the median." In certain industries, she says, this gap is as high as 30-40%. "It can be $10-20,000 difference," she adds.

In Donovan's experience, the gap becomes more noticeable as women progress in their careers. "Around mid-30s, it seems that's when the wake-up call happens for a lot of women. They see the men getting director-level jobs and they're stuck in management ... they find out the pay [disparity] and they're like, what is going on?"

Donovan's free app, Earn More Girl, uses algorithms to determine goal salary amounts, as well as gives women sample scripts they can use to prepare for a professional, comfortable conversation regarding compensation.

While Donovan doesn't have one set-in-stone explanation for why women tend to negotiate less often than men — one good read on this subject, she suggests, is Linda Babcock's bookWomen Don't Ask — she thinks that part of the issue is rooted in antiquated "rules of business," which have traditionally been determined by men. Many colleges and education systems simply don't teach these unwritten rules, including negotiation skills. "Colleges have to step up," Donovan says. "It's everybody's responsibility."

The best piece of advice for women job seekers, says Donovan, is to conquer the fear that often accompanies speaking up about a seemingly low offer. After all, 84% of employers expect that candidates will negotiate a salary. "Speaking up will not get you fired," she says. "There's this huge fear that saying, "Wow, that seems low" is going to take away the job offer. It's not. [Overcoming] that fear — that's my biggest advice for women themselves. Employers still have a long way to go, but this is the one thing we as women can control."

3. Women in tech, STEM and entrepreneurship can help set the example

The tech industry is notorious for its distinct lack of diversity. The aforementioned diversity reports from Microsoft and Apple, for example, uncover that a whopping 70+% of employees are male, and more than 50% are white.

Some studies and research suggest that the root of the issue lies not with employers unwilling to pay equally, but that the pay gap is actually reflective of the differing career paths that men and women are drawn toward. This angle argues that women, due to a variety of factors such as the desire to preserve work-life balance and raise a family, tend to stick to careers with more flexibility that are often less lucrative.

For women interested in high-level tech careers, however, there are a number of resources available for not only finding jobs, but eventually rising to the top positions. On top of the literature available — everything from Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In to this recently funded Kickstarter that aims to highlight women working in the tech industry — there are a variety of online resources, such as the #FemaleFounders Slack community, or Modiv, a job board that promotes diversity in tech careers.

The more knowledgable women become about their career options (and what they pay), the easier it's going to be to begin closing the pay gap.