I’m mulling this one over.
I’ve known for years that I had better increase my salary. I have made quite a few decisions to make that a reality. As I read this article, I’m not 100% sure what to think. I like my career right now and I made the choices to change what I was doing to get into IT/programming work. Sifting through the meta message in the article, I think it’s aimed at women who aren’t earning their full potential, or are young enough to make radical career path changes.
I’m not sure that the article makes sense to me. Sure women make choices in life to give themselves balance between work and family. Duh. That’s obvious. As a singleton I make more than some of my counterparts (regardless of gender) because I spend significantly more hours at work and get technical training all the time, therefore I demand higher pay and receive it. However, when accounting for the work-life balance choices, are women, in a statistically signficant manner, still being paid less for the same work?
The slideshow had some weird messages too. Like telling women to get themselves a househusband so that the wife can go out and earn more. Hey, why not marry a husband who actually earns a good wage and hire a nanny, instead? The financial analyst slide made me bonkers. Well gee, of course the woman earns more at the office than the shifty guy on the right with 5 o’clock shadow.
Seems like I’m against the article, but I think the advice is sound. If you are a woman looking to make more money, I think these strategies could work. I have moved into a financial analysis/technical position and get training all the time (either through work or self-motivated study) and my salary has doubled in the last 5 years and nearly tripled over the last 10. Of course, I don’t have kids and I can use all my non-work time to get as much training as I am motivated to get.
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Warren Farrell is going off of an incorrect premise, that women choose to earn less by going after work in the “pink collar ghetto”. Clearly you are not that type. Working in IT gives you an opportunity to earn like a man.
However, it may be that you haven’t hit the pay gap killer, having a child. A woman who has children tends to earn less, and also tends to not consider outsourcing the raising of her offspring to a nanny, but rather to be hands on in the raising of her kids. Men tend to feel more comfortable insourcing childraising to their spouse.