Through the Leaders’ Lens: Closing the Pay Gap

It was recently reported that 28 high-profile companies have signed a White House pledge to tackle pay inequity within their own organizations.

A mere twenty-eight out of how many American companies have pledged to address the pay inequity going on under their noses for decades… or more?

While I’m happier to have the pledge from these companies than not,  all the backslapping, self-congratulations and victory dances strike me as ridiculous, bordering on offensive.  To begin with, the pay gap — or let’s call it by it’s rightful name, pay discrimination —is such old news that companies that have yet to rectify it by 2016 should be publicly scorned, not celebrated.

And the fact that the Department of Labor — despite having the progressive-ish Carter, Clinton and Obama in the White House since the 1970s — is only now getting around to ‘updating’ its sex discrimination guidelines for the first time since then, only further begs the question:  where has everyone been and what have they (not) been thinking???

And oh, by the way, in the post-gender era, why aren’t we broadening the conversation for an ‘all gender solution?’

While there’s much that should have and could have been done already, the onus here is not just on our elected officials, including Boards of public companies or C-suite executives.  Instead — and to keep it simple for those leaders slow to catch on – let’s keep this binary for the moment — we women also have to bear some responsibility.

It’s nice that the Federal Government is allocating $50m to both  teaching community college students to negotiate for better starting wages and to improving the portrayal of women in the media, etc.    Sadly, this will create a slow institutional turn,  at best.

Real change in real time  has to be from the inside out and is contingent on the afflicted or aggrieved having enough self-possession to say ‘enough.’  Enough from the offenders and truly enough of their own passivity.  It’s time for women to stop waiting on the white knight of government  regulations or  the good will of those in charge.  It’s time for women to be their own solution, to believe in and agitate for their own worth.  Study after study after study has shown the effectiveness — and in some cases superiority — of women in business so when do we start believing it and acting on our own behalf?

Again, inside-out stuff. Women need to acquire the self-management and, yes, self-promotional skills to understand our own value and then advocate on our own behalf. Otherwise, we continue the enslavement, putting ourselves in the hands of patriarchal companies that, in the end, will act in their own self-interest. And, I repeat, how many companies? 28? If they were all in the Fortune 100, that would be 28% but in the Fortune 500, that would be 5.6%.  Not seeing the sea change.

And lastly — something I’ve long preached and promoted — even if companies turn the lens on themselves, their efforts will unfortunately still be hampered by the stubborn unconscious biases — a result of socialization — that reside have taken root,  deeply afflicting even the most progressive among us.

So, institutions, do your thing.  Despite being very late to the game, on behalf of my daughter and my niece, I welcome  your belated efforts.  Better that than not.

But everyone else, please don’t be seduced into complacency — this is still your battle to fight. Propaganda only goes so far. In the end, it’s about the arrows in YOUR quiver, the tools in YOUR toolbox, the weapons in YOUR arsenal.

Let this self-congratulatory move by the 28 serve as our metaphorical call to arms.  ENOUGH!