The Boardroom Beat #33 - The Gender Compensation Gap - The Role you Play & the Power you Give Away

Coaching is about taking responsibility for solutions to challenges. Even for a topic as macro-pervasive as gender compensation inequality, there is opportunity for the individual to address their own progress. A client’s transformational “Ah ha” that standing her ground decades ago to cautionary parental advice bore important professional implications now. She extrapolated “I Deserve the Couch” to “I Deserve the Compensation.” Keep reading; Dots will connect. The focus of this article is activation for individuals who finds themselves on the wrong side of a compensation gap.

The History, The Progress, The Present

Gender gap compensation disparity surfaces in a statistically significant number of my coaching engagements. (While this article focuses on gender, the same principles may be applied to compensation inequality for any historically marginalized population.) As a primer I highly recommend the March 2024 article “Gender and Income Inequality: History and Statistics” published by Greg Daugherty. It is replete with facts that emphasize a long history of incremental progress and breakthroughs in the “Equal Pay for Equal Work” movement that dates to the 1860s. It is an eye-opening account of how many battles have been waged and won by equality champions. Why then, I wonder beseechingly, are women are still paid 84 cents for every dollar that men earn? WHY?

We Solve for What We Diagnose

Research studies from organizations like McKinsey & Company and the World Economic Forum bring truths to light that impact compensation disparity. These include a) promotion disparity b) under-representation in leadership, c) sectoral employment disparity, and d) a disproportionate burden of unpaid care work.  These certainly are all viable causal conditions that impede equality and demand continued dedication to societal and regulatory shifts.

I celebrate the visionaries and activists who work on the DE&I “big picture” to address the underlying contributors. Meanwhile, I partner with clients to address the pressing reality that this broad lens aperture won't close the gap with the immediacy they desire, especially as they grapple with feelings of being undervalued.

Change the Silent Story. Refuse to Give Power Away.

The issue becomes more embedded and systemic when a marginalized population is indoctrinated by the very repressive belief system they bemoan. Clients share examples of how they have given power away on a case by case basis via inaction that further widens the compensation gap. This is how it works:
•    A female earns a promotion.
•    She leads with gratitude.
•    She believes that she is “lucky” to have been promoted.
•    She may factor into the luck how she manages to balance career and family.
•    She diminishes the evidence of her performance record.
•    She does not address the topic of compensation.
•    Meanwhile her male counterpart negotiates compensation commensurate with high performance and promotion.
•    With each career advancement the gap compounds as the percentage increase is a bigger number.
•    A well intentioned HR department that is truly committed to the ethical principles of equality finds itself with a big data gap that may have been historically adopted in part, was not intended, and now has reconciliation limits.

If this sounds like a new version of other articles I have posted on Imposter Experiences, you are spot on.

Why Is the Silent Story Under-reported?

Observations across years and many engagements prompt this connection. Yet, across my research and via many AI prompts this surfaces as “new revelation.” Does the individual’s role in propagating gender compensation inequality fail to get notice because it is more acceptable to blame the system than to suggest that individuals own part of the solution? Does sensitivity around the perception of victim-blaming impede the call to action for individuals to self-advocate?

I experience income disparity manifesting as disappointment in self and/or the organization, neither of which supports talent retention. Coaching is not a consultation that prescribes action, nor is it an exercise in blame; Coaching is an exploration of belief systems that seed imposter myths.Myth-busting the imposter experience empowers action in various ways that benefit the organization. One example is advocating for fair compensation. As a coach, I:
*    Hear and empathize,
*    Encourage and normalize,
*    Challenge and activate.

Now, to connect the dots as promised in paragraph one……

"I Deserve The Couch!"

One client decided her activation mantra would be “I deserve the couch!” She told this great story; After landing a prized role early career that emboldened her sense of achievement and success she decided that she wanted “the” couch for her uptown abode that would be a statement of celebration and success. Her mother cautioned against a show of bravado and suggested a more measured and cautious choice. She believed in herself and her continued success. She got the couch. Years and promotions later she realized that she had not applied the same bravado and confidence to conversations with her leads about compensation. It was with invigorated connection that she realized that an “I Deserve the Compensation” conversation with her lead was an overdue and updated version of  “I deserve the Couch” with her mum years before. 

On a Personal Note

In 1984-85 I was an MBA student in Pau, France when The one hit wonder "Femme Libérée" was released by the French band Cookie Dingler.2 It was a popular hit in France, where it became an anthem of female empowerment in the 1980s. Translation of the chorus  is “To be a liberated woman, you know it is not easy.” I later framed the cover graphic from a 1985 issue of Le Nouvel Observateur,” and it occupied a place of prominence in every office I had until Christmas 2019, when I passed it to one of my daughters. It survived a house fire while she was abroad in 2022, and was one of the few things she asked about in the immediate aftermath. Here is a photo, 39 years later, now prominently displayed in her home. 

Recently, she shared a 'Mom, you would be proud' moment about advocating for higher (and well-deserved!) compensation following an evaluation by her supervisor. She was thoroughly prepared with evidence, and the adjustment was made. Tu sais, c’est pas is facile; You know, it is not easy. However, we are called to encourage each other, believe in ourselves, and take charge of the role we play in compensation gap disparity. 
 

Own It!

Taking ownership of one’s role in the solution strengthens the talent pipeline and improves the organizations we serve. It addresses the macro issue of income inequality at a micro level.

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