48% of women say they work twice as hard for the money
When it comes to equal pay for equal work, a majority of women believe that in the age of #metoo, an appropriate Twitter handle might be #notyet.
A new survey by Ellevest, a financial firm focused on women investors, found 83% of women believe men are often paid more than female colleagues for the same work — and 61% of men agree.
Meanwhile, 48% of women think they have to work twice as hard as a man to take home half the pay, and just
42% believe their opportunities on the job are the same as male colleagues. That’s compared to 58% of men who believe that the playing field is fair.
Still, at a time when a national conversation is taking place about sexual harassment, Sallie Krawcheck, Ellevest’s CEO, thinks society may be poised to focus on another disparity fracturing the workplace: unequal pay.
“The gender pay gap is alive and well,” says Krawcheck, who co-founded Ellevest in 2014. But “I hope this is the beginning of a first step for companies to really open their eyes, women to work together and for us to work to close it.”
In 2015, women were on average paid 80 cents for every dollar earned by men, the non-profit Institute for Women’s Policy Research says. The numbers were worse for women of color, with black women earning 68% of what was paid to white men and Hispanic women’s pay amounting to just
62% of their white male peers.
But just as sexual misconduct allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein triggered an examination of such behavior and led to the downfall of prominent media figures, high-profile cases are now turning a spotlight on the gender wage gap.
This month, USA TODAY reported actress Michelle Williams was paid less than $1,000 of the $1.5 million paid to co-star Mark Wahlberg for reshoots of the film All the Money in the World. Following a fierce backlash, Wahlberg said on Saturday that he would be donating his fee, in Williams’ name, to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund.
While the country fitfully moves toward paying women on par with their male peers, Krawcheck says that in the meantime, women need to be investing what they can. Currently, they are leaving hundreds of thousands of dollars on the table because they aren’t investing at the same rate as male counterparts.
“I say, if you had a hole in your pocketbook, and a hundred bucks fell out, how many days would it take you to fix your pocketbook?” Krawcheck says.
And being in command of their money significantly lifts women’s self esteem, with 63% saying building savings and investments that can fund their goals means more than their education or even the support of their family.
As for the wage gap, “I am actually more hopeful than I have been in a long time about us closing it,” Krawcheck says. “Money may not buy happiness, but money is power. It is key to peace of mind. It is key to levels of comfort, and ... in this day and age, it’s key to saying, ‘Quit chasing me around the desk. Take this job and shove it.’ ”