Wage Gap Widens for Managers

The General Accounting Office, an investigative arm of Congress, studied full-time managers in the communications, entertainment, finance, insurance, and retailing industries. New results show that the gap between the earnings of men and women in these management positions grew by 21 cents per dollar, between 1995 and 2000. The gap was already too wide before 1995. This is very discouraging news indeed.

What can we do about it? How can we earn more and how can we insure that we are paid what we should? While we can’t single-handedly change statistics, we can try not to become a statistic.

Know what others are making. The internet provides many sites with salary information on various occupations and positions. Talk to others in the field. An executive recruiter recently told me that the male job candidates she works with know what their counterparts earn, while women typically do not. Men talk to one another about their income. As a result, it is a lot harder to pull the wool over their eyes. Salaries are not secret and sacred.

Ask for more money. Once we know what our job should pay, we need to ask for fair compensation. Ask for a raise, on your merits, and on information you have learned about the earnings of others. Ask for a bonus.

Do the work which pays more. (see Each of Us.) While you may not always earn as much as your male counterparts, you will earn more if you work with men than if you work with women. Awareness is the first step. Small adjustments make a big difference.