(Click the image to see the full infographic)
Ever since I started working in IT I've been told that I make less than a man with the same skills. I chose to ignore that and focus on doing an awesome job, figuring I'd be paid what I was worth. I chose to believe that employers wouldn't take me for granted and would reward my skills and abilities. In fact, I once had a boss who coached me to always ask for a pay rise and log my successes to ensure I always kept pace with the men in the company. I thought he was the norm - I thought all bosses wanted everyone to be equal and succeed.
Boy was I ever wrong.
Not only have I watched another woman manager offer to pay a new female employee less than a man with the same skills and experience because she knew she could get away with it, some research shows that women are worth £17,736 less a year. SHOCKING.
You may think - well, it isn't all bad as women get a 1% higher on average pay rise than men. That additional pay increase per anum is awesome but it'll still take SIXTY YEARS to get pay equity. That's more than two generations.
I've been watching salary surveys since 2007 waiting for the huge differences in salaries I was seeing to get better. With the exception of creative directors, all the salaries I was seeing showed women were paid less - sometimes shockingly huge amounts less. There are one or two other areas since then I've seen where women and men get equal pay but generally women make less than men for the same work with the same experience and the same qualifications.
On a positive note, WELL DONE YAHOO for kicking the butts of Apple, Google, Microsoft and others in gender parity at senior levels. Power to the Purple!
What experiences have you had with pay equity or inequity?
Infographic designed and sourced by mediaworks online marketing
All data referred to in this article comes from the infographic linked to at the top & bottom of this post which contains links for all data sources