provocatively claims in
his report, Does It Pay To Be
Nice?, that there is a clear link between
a masculine working style and cold
hard cash. “Traditionally, women are
more passive and likeable at work,”
he says. “To be successful in the
workplace, women have to adapt to
more alpha male-like behaviour.”
Those who did, made 4% more than
their co-workers per year, which is
approximately £40,000 a lifetime
based on a 40-year career with an
annual wage of £25,000.
It’s been almost 40 years since
equal pay legislation came into force
in the UK, yet the Fawcett Society says
that women working full-time “earn on
average 17% less per hour than men
working full-time. For ethnic minority
women, the gap is even higher at 20%.
For women working part-time compared
to men working full-time the gap is 36%
per hour – rising to 45% in London.”
But can Heineck’s research really be
true? Are women really to blame for
the gender pay gap? And should we
follow the men and adopt aggressive,
confrontational negotiating styles?
Corinne Mills, MD of Personal
Career Management certainly
thinks so. “In my experience men
simply ask for pay rises more often
than women. Women hardly seem
to ask at all and often seem
embarrassed to talk about money.”
Ruth Temple, a 40-year-old PR
consultant from London, sees a
significant gulf between her partner
and herself when it comes to playing
hardball at work. “He’s focussed on
salary, the job title and the perks.” But
while men charge towards promotion,
she believes women wouldn’t dare.
“We worry about asking for more
money or even talking about it, and
we back down quickly if we’re
challenged on the subject.”
A similar pattern has also been
identified in the way women tackle
job applications. “The Women Equality
Unit found that women do not put
themselves forward for roles unless they
are able to fulfil most of the criteria,”
says Seven Suphi, High Performance
Coach and MD of behavioural experts
Odyssey Solutions. “Men, however, put
themselves forward even if they only
have a few criteria satisfied. Men
are more willing to take risks while
women are not.”
����WWW�STYLIST�CO�UK
Jo Cameron knows about
playing hardball after subjecting
herself to a Sir Alan Sugar grilling on
The Apprentice. Prior to that she was
an engineer for a car manufacturer,
and admits she was “absolutely” paid
less than men. “When they promoted
me I did ask for a pay raise, but
they said, ‘There isn’t enough money’.
I knew that men were getting pay
increases, and that they achieved
it by saying, ‘If you don’t pay me more
I’m not doing the job’. But it didn’t
even occur to me to say that, I was
just too polite.”
Now Cameron co-runs Women On
Their Way, an event and training
scheme for women and sees all too
regularly the barriers created by
women. “We are raised to be modest
which means that at promotion time
we pass off our achievements to the
rest of the team. We should say, ‘It was
hard work, I lead it and we got a great
result.’ But we haven’t been taught to
do that. As women we need to
re-educate ourselves.”
Erica Sosna, founder of The Life
Project, often hears this from her
clients. “It’s amazing the number of
“This trend is the result of growing
up in a sexist society that values us
more for our looks than our brains”
successful women who say, ‘I feel
so embarrassed asking for money.
It makes me feel awkward’.”
WOMEN ARE SCAPEGOATS
However, not everyone is buying the
viewpoint that it’s women’s poor
negotiation skills that have caused
the pay gap. Laura Woodhouse,
blogger for online feminist magazine
The F Word is tired of seeing women
made into scapegoats for a system that
regularly discriminates against them.
“The Fawcett Society suggests that up
to 40% of the gender pay gap is made
up of direct discrimination against
women doing the same job as their male
counterparts. Until companies are
forced to undertake pay audits and
expose how much they pay their
male and female employees,
employers will continue to be able
to get away with this.”
Davina Allen, 37, agrees. During her
previous job in London’s financial
sector, the secrecy surrounding pay
packets made any attempt at open and
fair negotiation impossible. “It was
forbidden to talk about salary and
could lead to being fired.” While she
never knew for certain that she was
THE ART OF N
PREPARE TO TAKE
RESPONSIBILITY
1 AND CONTROL
“Let’s face it, a pay
rise, bonus or promotion is
not going to be handed to you
by shouting, ‘I’ve been here a
while, I’m good, so pay me more
money,’” says entrepreneur
Chrissie Lightfoot. “We have to
prove ourselves to get ahead,
constantly, which means we
can’t wait for things to happen.
We have to take control of our
own career path, and that means
being proactive.”
NEGOTIATE YOUR
TERMS WITH
2 YOURSELF FIRST
Negotiation needs
to begin before you have even
accepted a position. Know what
you want in advance. Work out if
you’re prepared to walk away if
you don’t get what you want and
ask yourself what your bottom
line is. And always have a plan B.
LEARN SOME
LESSONS FROM
3 THE BOYS
“Strength,
confidence, boldness and
positive communication are
a few qualities we can learn
from men,” says Lightfoot.
“Men network and relish
self promotion. When they
succeed everyone will
hear about it. If they want
something they tend to say
it outright, they don’t hint
which is what we women
tend to do.”
being paid less than the men, Davina
believes that the system works against
women’s best interests. “Secrecy
prevents women from bridging the
gender pay gap. How can you put
yourself forward for a pay rise if you
don’t know the salary spread?”
But Woodhouse believes that
shining a light on pay packets isn’t
enough. If women are afraid to fight
their way to more money, it’s not them
at fault, but wider society.
“Don’t assert that the pay gap is
women’s fault because we don’t have
the confidence to ask for pay rises,
surely the sensible and fair response
Don’t just sit there. Stand up and fight for what
MAKE A BUSINESS
CASE FOR
4 PROMOTION
“Women need
to prove their worth. Instead
of seeing a pay rise as a vote of
confidence in them, they need
to put business arguments
forward as to why they should be
paid more or promoted,” says
Corinne Mills. “This could include
focussing on the new business
they have brought in, money they
have helped save, problems
they have solved, and so on. They
need to show why they are an
asset to the organisation, not just
because they work hard but
because as an employee you are
improving the efficiency, profit
and competitiveness of the
company. If you want to be paid
more, you need to show that you
help the organisation earn more.”
KEEP A STASH
OF EVIDENCE
5
OF YOUR
ACHIEVEMENTS
Heidi Bannister, managing
director of recruitment service
Arthur Edward Associates,
says be methodical with your
approach. “Start building up
a ‘brag pack’, if you do
something well, keep the
proof. Sales figures, a letter
of thanks from a customer or
supplier, anything positive about
your skills and ability. Before
leaving a company ask for open
references and letters of
recommendation and keep all
these things in a folder that you
add to over the years.”
to that is to tackle the causes of low
self-esteem in women, starting at
a young age, not to simply point the
finger and write the pay gap off as some
kind of natural imbalance? Women are
not naturally less confident than men;
this trend is the result of growing up in
a sexist society that values us more for
our looks and ability to please men than
our brains and skills.”
Sarah Veale, head of the Trade’s
Union Council’s (TUC) Equality and
Employment Rights department
agrees, “Sexism still exists. For example
unfavourable shift allocation, where
the well-paid slots go to the men,
To view a Ceros magazine you need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser and have the flash player 8 or higher installed. To install the latest flash player, click the icon above, install the flash plugin and then click here to refresh this page.