Women’s Equality Day is a day proclaimed each year by the United States President to commemorate the granting of the vote to women throughout the country. Women in the United States were granted the right to vote on August 26, 1920, when the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution was certified as law.
How many women are there in your Executive Team in comparison to men? The same amount? More? Less? None???!!! Are men still the decision makers? In many industries sadly the answer is “yes”.
When a woman is applying for a job or is negotiating a promotion, her salary, as well as her opportunity to actually be selected, is considered based on her past performance. Men on the contrary, are considered based on their potential. Why is this? Why is it that to this day, women make less money in the exact same position as men? Women typically earn about 90% of what men are paid until they hit 35. After that, median earnings for women are typically 75–80% of what men are paid. What is the logical explanation behind this?
The reality is that we are NOT all the same. There are many differences between genders, in the way we think, the way we were raised, in the way we operate. As there are differences between cultures, races and generations. Despite of these differences, WE ALL HAVE THE SAME CAPABILITIES TO DO GOOD WORK. Therefore, women as well as men, should have access to the same jobs and the same pay. There are more advantages to diversity in the workplace than there are disadvantages.
If only everyone would start considering that differences in general (generational, cultural, racial, of gender, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, etc.) actually add value, we would live in a much more balanced world…
Yours truly,
MICHÈLE C. KLINE
08/26/2015