The recent release of a study conducted by the American Association of University Women, The study analyzed some 9,000 college graduates from 1992-93 and more than 10,000 from 1999-2000 and discovered that females earn 80 percent of what men earn one year after graduating from college only to drop to 69 percent 10 years later.
titled
"Behind the Pay Gap," had a number of women's groups and online communities seeing red last week.
Even accounting for occupational differences and parenthood, the study discovered a pay gap exists between women and men who studied the same fields.
[Although this was a U.S. study, I'd be interested in hearing from my readers in other countries. Does this pay gap discrepancy reflect your own workplace experience?]
If a man and woman make the same choices out of college what happens ten years after women join the workforce?
The AAUW's study indicates that sex discrimination likely plays a role in this discrepancy.
Gender discrimination plays out in less obvious ways in the workplace, ones that require women to remain vigilant in recognizing and addressing. Here are my thoughts based on over two decades worth of experience working for Fortune 500 companies from trainer to senior manager and another decade as business owner.
I've seen far too many women stop taking risks when they enter the workplace, or they take the wrong ones, or they miss the timing of when to take them, or they miss everyday opportunities to practice risktaking, such as speaking up when it matters.
These were things I learned along the way mostly through trial and error, except when I was fortunate to have someone "take me under their wing" (a reason I'm passionate about mentoring).
So, why do obviously talented women who aggressively compete in college take fewer risks after they enter the workforce, behavior that could help them close the pay scale gap?
I see seven reasons why this happens, three associated with workplace culture and four reasons due to skill gaps.
Risktaking as Company Responsibility
Knowledge: Women are less likely to receive formal training and informal mentoring on how to take smart, responsible risks, in general, and more specific to a company's culture.
Experience: Women avoid second (or third) tries to get risktaking right, particularly if they've experienced personal pain and professional setbacks. So they never get past their fear of failing.
Resilience: The failure acceptance in large corporations remains low for women. Failure appears to be part of a man's learning curve, whereas there's a tendency to judge females more harshly when failure occurs on their watch.
Is it any wonder that innovation is at risk of falling further behind in many large U.S. corporations?
Risktaking as Personal Responsibility
It would almost be too easy to blame companies for not leveling the risktaking playing field. However, today's business professionals accept ownership for their careers and either elect to change a situation or decide to play elsewhere.
So what can you do to get the ball rolling?
If you've been reading my blog for the last year, you know the four critical areas that serve as building blocks to help you reach your risktaking goals or, minimally, come out ahead when managing setbacks.
Communication skills begin and sustain your relationships. The ability to flex your communication style to build rapport and early influence with those who possess a different style from your own, and the skills to communicate through an understanding of multiple ethnicities lays the foundation for your success in today's global workplace.
Negotiating is a required business skill. Although negotiating your salary may not always be on the agenda, you are continually negotiating your value. Skillful negotiating persuades others to support and even fund your higher risk initiatives, programs, projects, and burgeoning ideas.
Relationship Management - the bigger the risk, the wider the net. When it comes to successful risktaking in the workplace, much of it has to do with the trust and relationship capital you've banked in the organization; the same capital that serves as a safety net should things not go according to your plan.
Finance Smarts and knowing what keeps the engines of business working increase your chances of successful risktaking. Don't shy away from the world of finance or, at the least, learn the finance basics of what your risks could cost the company versus how much the company will benefit from them. You need to be able to quantify your risktaking value to the organization.
Responsible Risktaking requires standalone skills, but it never stands on its own.
Everyday risktaking? Learn to play to your existing strengths while taking incremental steps to close your skill gaps.
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