Women in the Workplace and Gender Pay Gaps

This morning I drove 90 minutes round trip for a 90-minute meeting. It was a woman’s networking group that convenes at lunch every month or so to talk about our evolution. It’s aptly called the Evolve Network, and today in particular I was encouraged by the amount of talent in the room.

I became acutely aware of what a resource we women are, not only to each other, but to the world at large.

Talent Management magazine recently reported on the fact that women’s income is rapidly increasing compared to men’s; we’re at a whopping 81 cents to every man’s dollar (hey, I remember when it was 75!), yet companies aren’t always swift to adopt a more women-friendly atmosphere.

According to the World Economic Forums “The Global Gender Gap Report,” which ranks 134 countries based on the size of income gaps between men and women, along with chasms in education, political empowerment and health, Iceland, Norway, Finland and Sweden win out. Chad, Pakistan and Yemen showed the broadest gender gap while the United States had a boosted ranking of #19 versus #32 just one year ago (I do wonder how much of that has to do with the ‘mancession‘).

While the author of the article, Mike Prokopeak, agrees that bringing the income gap into balance is one way to counteract the unfairness in the workplace, he also states that

“another is broadening work-life programs to better leverage the contributions of women and benefit men. Most employers still structure jobs based on the assumption that someone is at home taking care of the family, and some women are put on the “mommy track,” forcing them to trade career opportunities for raising a family.” Full article here

The ‘mommy track’ is one reason why I work from home, creating not only my own career path, but also my own rules. It works well, except for those moments when the battle over who gets to use the bathroom when boils over into my conference call time with the East Coast…

Life in the slow lane can have its challenges!

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2 Comments

  1. alisekobre

    December 28, 2010 at 5:01 am

    Yup, and in the next boom companies that provide for that will have competitive advantage. You might want to check out Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s open letter to Obama. She mentions this! 😀 Great post!

  2. Women in the Workplace and Gender Pay Gaps (via The Power of Slow) « Every Voice Matters, Including Yours

    December 28, 2010 at 5:04 am

    […] 0 This morning I drove 90 minutes round trip for a 90-minute meeting. It was a woman's networking group that convenes at lunch every month or so to talk about our evolution. It's aptly called the Evolve Network, and today in particular I was encouraged by the amount of talent in the room. I became acutely aware of what a resource we women are, not only to each other, but to the world at large. Talent Management magazine recently reported on the fac … Read More […]

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