While things are getting better, women’s pay still lags men’s pay. In 1979 full-time working women earned just 62% as much as men. Today that number is 80%. And, things look better for younger women. Women ages 16 – 34 are closer financially to their male counterparts, earning 90% as much in full-time wages.
Experts believe that, in addition to prejudice on the job, women are their own worst enemies when it comes to pay — they tend to underprice and undervalue themselves more so than men.
The real issue with this is that women are frequently flying solo with greater financial demands than men. The odds of a women getting divorced, becoming widowed or staying single are greater than that for men since men have shorter life spans and do not stay single as long as women do. Also, women usually end up with the children if they have them. Two-thirds of US women ages 40 – 79 have already dealt with a major financial “life crisis,” such as job loss, divorce, death of a spouse or serious illness. Why are women under paid other than for predudicial reasons: they don’t ask for a raise, don’t negotiate their initial salary, don’t raise their fees if self-employed, avoid being visible at work, and they stay in a job too long.
Her is a case in point. John and Helen (both 22 years old) get a job and are both offered $25,000. John negotiates his salary up to $30,000 while Helen accepts the offer. Assume they both get a 3% raise each year. When they are 60 years old, John will have earned $361,000 more than Helen.
So what’s the point of this article?