Research suggests women are asking for raises, but men get them more
One common theory to explain the pay gap between men and women assigns blame to women themselves: Maybe they just are not asking for raises.
But a study of Australian women has found that they were asking for salary increases as much as their male colleagues — men were just more likely to actually get one.
The study, released this week by the Cass Business School in London, the University of Warwick and the University of Wisconsin found that when comparing men and women who work similar hours, men got a raise 20 percent of the time they asked, compared with 16 percent for women. About 70 percent of men and women in the sample said they had asked for a raise.
Though the study did not offer solutions, Dr. Amanda Goodall, one of the study’s authors, said in an interview that it did narrow the possible explanations for the disparities.
“If we find that women are asking and aren’t getting the pay raises, it points the finger toward discrimination,” said Goodall, a senior lecturer in management at the Cass Business School.
The study also examined whether women were reticent about asking for a raise out of fear of upsetting their bosses. The data suggests not: While 14.6 percent of men said they had not tried to get a raise because they were concerned about workplace relationships, 12.9 percent of women said they had held back.
The pay gap between genders has been widely acknowledged, but identifying causes and solutions has long been the source of political and cultural debate. In the United States, President Barack Obama has attempted to crack down on the disparities, requiring companies to report to the government what they pay employees by race, gender and ethnicity.
Women more often do not have the ability to negotiate at all. Forty-eight percent of men in the study said they were in jobs that allowed them to negotiate wages, while 33 percent of women said the same. And there were more women in part-time positions; the authors said part-time employees often feel less empowered to ask for raises.
But it is not all about different career paths for women; previous data show pay differences between men and women vary within occupations.
The authors of the new study did find some hope: Women under 40 were receiving raises at a similar rate as their male colleagues. The challenge, Goodall said, will be watching whether the pay of those women continues to keep pace with their male colleagues’ as they climb to more senior ranks.
The study examined about 4,600 employees at 840 Australian workplaces in 2013 and 2014. About 64 percent were full-time employees, and the average age was 41. Just over half were married, and 86 percent primarily used English at home.
Though it is not an exact comparison to countries like the United States and Britain, Australia offers valuable data to the West based on its women having a similar pay gap and career mobility, Goodall said.
“We didn’t know how the numbers would come out,” Andrew Oswald, a professor of economics and behavioral science at the University of Warwick, said in a statement. “Having seen these findings, I think we have to accept that there is some element of pure discrimination against women.” (New York Times News Service)
From its humble beginnings in 2010, the JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPMC) Entrepreneurship Education for Community Development Program has grown into a movement that continues to uplift the lives of many underprivileged Filipinos, helping create better livelihood opportunities and entrepreneurial careers through free tech-voc and entrepreneurship skills education.
As it marks its sixth year of active corporate social responsibility in the Philippines, JPMorgan Chase focuses on bringing holistic intellectual and human capital development through a renewed partnership with Bayan Academy, a social enterprise development institution whose mission is to “serve the servers.”
Leading the way in addressing the needs and challenges of the 21st century global economy, both JPMorgan and Bayan Academy recognize the importance of strategic collaborations in synergizing genuine grassroots intervention efforts.
In an effort to address the skills and job mismatch besetting today’s industry and workforce, Bayan Academy has structured this year’s JPMC program to focus on developing high-tech, high-impact, in-demand hard skills.
Compared with the previous JPMC initiatives, this year’s program provides an innovative learning framework that will help achieve full-scale knowledge and tech-voc skills transfer. The shift in focus is in response to the looming industry need for workers with 21st century readiness skills including a higher remuneration of graduates.
Under the two-year initiative, more than 1,000 beneficiaries will be trained in the following STEM skills: IT (contact center services, computer system servicing, 2D and 3D Animation), welding (shield metal arc and gas metal arc), and construction (electrical installation and maintenance, carpentry, masonry, and plumbing) from June 2016 to March 2017. Participants who successfully finish the program will be certified by TESDA. Also within the two-year program, at least 500 teachers will be trained online to use-up-to-date entrepreneurship and STEM modules.
During the initial phase of the program in May 2016, Bayan Academy awarded 25 scholarships in 2D Animation NC III and another 25 scholarships in 3D Animation NC III to deserving and qualified scholars. Fifty scholars for the electrical installation and maintenance NC II and 25 carpentry NC II courses were also given the grant. For teachers training, 162 have been trained in Rizal, Cebu City, and NCR in partnership with the Department of Education.
Building on its core STEM training program, Bayan Academy will pilot three new components: Evaluation and thought leadership; creation of trade guilds to facilitate employeremployee contact; and blended, online training of trainers’ tool. Dubbed the Bayan Learning Systems, the platform aims to scale the academy’s work by helping disseminate JPMCsupported learning materials as well as broaden the reach of the program to connect with more distant learners like OFWs, student-beneficiaries, and teachers, nationally.
Roberto Panlilio, managing director and Philippines senior country officer at JPMorgan Chase & Co. said the renewed partnership with Bayan Academy affirms the company’s commitment to uplifting the lives of the Filipino people through education and skills training.
“We believe it is our responsibility to do the right thing not only for our clients but also the communities we support, and this includes extending support to nationwide efforts focused on employment generation. Addressing the skills gap and jobs mismatch is a critical step towards economic development and inclusive growth.”
Critical to the success of the ongoing program is the collaborative efforts of Bayan Academy with various private and government stakeholders. Among these are ground development institutions like the Center for Community Transformation, the National Housing Authority, and the ERDA Foundation which directly work with underprivileged communities and mobilize them as recipients of the training program. Also commendable for their training and job placement support are industry partners including Wilcon Depot, Inc., Workx and Wayz Solutions, Covenant Community Service Cooperative, Global Tronics, Inc., Anino Play Lab, and Affinity Express.