HOW CAN WE DO IT?

Everyone needs to be is involved in achieving gender equality. Depending on who you are and what your role is, there are tangible things that you can do right now to close the gender pay gap. 

Employers

Wage transparency begins with employers paying women and men the same salary for the same role. Business Insider has reported that keeping salaries under wraps is proven to be more harmful to performance, hiring, and the economy at large and when employees are armed with salary information it significantly increased their performance​ (2017)​. This is a call to action! We are asking leaders to pull their compensation data grouped by level.  If all the Jim’s earn more than the Mary’s by group, there is inequity within your walls and it’s up to you to fix it.  Let’s share our salary ranges and pay leveling openly, and not wait for employees to start talking about it first. 

Employees

As an employee, it is your duty to ask your employer what your peers are earning or for the salary band for the role you currently occupy.  New laws in both California and Massachusetts make it impossible for companies to penalize you for having open salary discussions.  Shrouding salary discussion as inappropriate is the old paradigm as the shift to transparency has begun and is very much in our hands to push forward. Jeanne C. Meister's book, The Future Workplace Experience (2016), explains how the understanding and knowledge of what peers are earning can also boost employee satisfaction as transparency in pay provides employees with reassurance that they are being treated fairly in relation to their peers. A recent study from the Boston Women's Workforce Council stated, ​"Closing the gender pay gap maximizes and rewards the talent base, both here in Massachusetts and around the world." (2017). 

Everyone

  Get Educated!  Wage transparency ​affects both women and men and we should all strive to demand it at every level. Implementing a transparent pay system helps fight gender bias, encourages growth and retention, boosts employee satisfaction, and increases employee productivity. Global Goals For Sustainable Development (2017) states, "By denying gender equality, we deny half the population an opportunity to succeed on an equal playing field."  Together everyone can work towards gender equality and respect for all.  Be Bold. Be Brave. Be Uncompromising.