The Honest CEO Show, Episode 16: Tips on Closing the Gender Pay Gap
Caroline Kennedy: Hi guys! And this is a little bit of a different segment today. Today, I thought I just wanted to do something a little bit short and sharp on a topic that I'm really passionate about and want to see change occur. That topic is the gender pay gap. And at the moment, it is topical because we saw the women of Iceland walk off the job at 2:38 yesterday, Tuesday, the 26th of October 2016.
They did so to protest against their national gender pay gap of between 14 to 18 percent. In Australia, the national gender pay gap is 16.2 percent. And while this is a decrease from the 2014 record high of 18.8 percent, it's not enough.
Today, I was asked to speak on the topic during the radio breakfast show of 6PR, and I spoke to Steve and Baz on the subject. They asked me a very good question, which was, why does it exist? Why do women not speak up? Why is the gender pay gap there? Now, there are very many reasons for this. But the most common ones that I've seen in business anyway relate to the fear of speaking out, what repercussions will come from that, the confidence, the lack thereof more so, confidence in their own ability.
You know, women generally tend to have imposter syndrome more so than men. Men tend to have, they're a little bit more egotistical, I think. So, and they tend to have a lot more confidence. Thirdly for me, which is most important, is the fact that perhaps a lot of women are ignorant around the fact that A, the gender pay gap exists, or B, that it actually exists for them. Which we have to be having more conversations around this. And we need to be looking at owning our worth.
The gender pay gap in ASX 200 organisations is a staggering 28%. And in the sporting industry, it's 50%. Now, that's phenomenal.
I can't even imagine that. So, organisations where there's high profile women, they're getting paid nearly 20%, well, nearly 29% less than their male counterparts. I believe the women of Australia need to take responsibility for effecting the change and taking real action.
Because if we don't take action, nothing changes. So, what are my suggestions here? Well, let's start with how we can effect change individually as opposed to collectively. So, we saw collectively how Iceland did it. And that would have taken a while to actually put together. And I think it's effective because it also encourages those women fearful of speaking out to participate. But until we get to that point where in Australia we can organise something on that scale, I think where we can start to chip away at this is through individual action.
What about if we all owned our worth and we all took a step in the same direction? That would lead to, whilst individual, also collective action and powerful action. So, my suggestions here are, women, be prepared. Do your research and present the facts on the suitable pay for the role that you're in. If you find out that there is a gap, ask for the appropriate pay. And demonstrate the contribution you've made, not just to the organisation, but to the role that you're in. Ask for what you're worth.
Ask for the pay rise. And also, ask for a promotion. If you're looking for a promotion and you really want one, I've seen this throughout my career, women don't ask for what they want.
Don't sit back and wait for someone to offer you the opportunity. Take it. Again, it comes back to action.
And thirdly, be prepared to take a stand and leave the company if they're not prepared to remunerate you appropriately. Now, I don't mean resign on the spot when they have given you reasons why they won't remunerate you. That would be irresponsible and I certainly don't encourage women to be irresponsible.
What I do encourage, though, is for you to then start to look around for an organisation that, A, will value you, but also where you align with their values and their values for equal opportunity for everybody. And that's so important. Without serious action, nothing will change.
And then the other question is, so why shouldn't Australian women walk off the job earlier than men? Why shouldn't we do it? Well, that's a big question and I think one for future, really. I support what is happening in Iceland because it's action. But we also need to take responsibility for ourselves.
Sure, people stay silent out of fear. Yet could you imagine if more people, particularly women, spoke up, but also men? We should be having these conversations with the men in our lives, our husbands, our bosses, our colleagues, because it's not acceptable. But what if more people spoke up? What if more people took action? We are making progress, but more needs to occur.
And as I said before, action and being courageous is what gets results. So think about how you personally as an individual can take action to affect change within your workplace and affect change for yourself. We all have a responsibility to the next generation of women and I'd like to see equal pay in my lifetime.
So why encourage you, the women of Australia, to own your worth? Because you're worth it. And I'd love to hear your stories. I'd love to hear your stories about and to share with other women as well.
So share in the show notes below. Tell us about how you've affected change. Tell us about what you're going to do to ensure that you are being paid appropriately for the role that you do.
Thanks for listening guys and good luck. And check it out.
