Today is Equal Pay Day, created to bring awareness to the chronic gap between men’s and women’s wages. As of 2019, women working full time earned 82.3 cents for every dollar a man made in the U.S.
So. Not. OK.
While I agree that the bulk of this gap is created by a chronic patriarchal belief that a woman’s work somehow isn’t as valuable as a man’s, I have to be blunt and say that part of it has to do with the beliefs that some women have around money.
It’s not polite to talk about money/ask for more money.
You get paid what your employer thinks your job performance is worth, so you won’t get any more if you ask
You don’t ‘deserve’ to be paid more than anyone in the same job as you
And yet most men don’t have these beliefs. As a feminist, I don’t mean to imply in any way that these pay gap or our beliefs are our ‘fault’.
But I will say that it’s time for us to take a serious review of our beliefs around money, and commit to giving them a refresh. Let go of any drama around what people think of us when it comes to wanting and deserving more money.
Money doesn’t come to you if and only if you ‘deserve’ it. Money comes from providing value.
Drop the modesty when it comes to reminding people of the value you provide, and be bold when asking for the amount of money that reflects that value.