EGOTIATION
you want – with a little help from our six-point plan
BE PROUD
OF YOUR GOODS
6 Toni Eastwood, training
director of Every
Woman, which offers resources
for women in business, says
you should be proud
of what you have to
offer. “Value what
or promotion done through pub talk
and football chat, or even at lap
dancing clubs.”
Veale also highlights the history
of unequal pay, a legacy that is still
firmly with us today. “Fifty years
ago society was based on a male
breadwinner while women stayed at
home and raised the children. When
women went into work it tended to
be part time, low skilled and bringing
in secondary income.” She claims
this division explains why today
hairdressers are paid less than car
maintenance workers, or childcare
staff much less than plumbers.
you do, then articulate that to
your boss. If you want a career
and you feel you have value to
add; you need to let people know
where you’re going and when you
want to get there. Doing a great
job does not get rewarded,
unless reward has been
asked for.”
TAKE A TIP FROM THE EXPERTS:
KNOW WHAT YOU WANT AND
GO OUT AND GET IT
“These jobs should receive equal
status in society, and equal pay. But
the men’s jobs are still considered
more valuable, and paid accordingly.”
But perhaps the biggest reason
behind the gender pay gap is
motherhood. In a recent government
inquiry into the role and treatment of
women in the City, hedgefund mother
of two, Nichola Pease, 48, told the
Commons Treasury Select Committee
that the average 12-month maternity
leave has made employers view women
as ‘a nightmare’. Her view is that by
exercising our maternity rights, we’re
undermining the gains we’ve made
in the workplace and turning ourselves
into targets for discrimination. This
is what Veale calls the ‘motherhood
penalty’. “Female graduates do just
as well as men, but once they drop out
of the world of work [to have a baby]
they never catch up.”
Women are much more likely than
men to work part time after becoming
a parent, which pays less but often
means a more balanced life. And while
some believe that improving pay for
flexible and part-time working is the
solution to the ‘motherhood penalty’,
not everybody thinks it’s a problem
that needs solving. Alison Jones,
33, who started her own computer
business, has little sympathy with
women who take maternity leave and
then expect to return to the same pay
as their male counterparts.
“Women step out of the workforce,
have kids, then come back in expecting
to be paid the same as men who have
stayed in the workforce and gained
experience. These studies don’t take
into account a common pattern
between men and women’s behaviours
in the work place. Women leave at 4pm
to pick up the kids – men work until
midnight. Yet women want to be
treated the same as the guys who work
more hours. We can’t have it all. If you
want to be paid the same as a man,
then stay in and get the experience,
the hours and the track record of a
man. That’s what I did – and I’m just as
successful as any man I know.”
There is some good news though,
the gap is starting to shrink. In 1970
the pay difference between men and
women was an average of 45%, in 2008
it was an average of 24%. But we’re not
there yet. If we still weren’t allowed to
vote, we wouldn’t settle for it, so why
are we still allowing men to get more
money for the same amount of work
we do? It’s prehistoric.
ARE MEN SUPERIOR
NEGOTIATORS?
Whether negotiation is at the root
of the pay gap or not, there’s no
denying that possessing the skill to
demand what you want, and deserve,
in a persuasive manner is a serious
asset. And something that a lot of men
seem to find much easier than women.
Does a Y chromosome really mean
an innate ability to get what you want?
Yes, according to psychologist Susan
GENDER POLITICS
Lovegrove. She believes women
have a much higher Emotional
Intelligence (EQ), which might be
useful for communicating but can
be quite debilitating when it comes
to negotiating a bumper bonus. “One
aspect of a high EQ is an ability to
empathise. So if a woman is thinking,
‘I wish my boss would give me a pay rise’,
she might resist because she’s worried
about putting her boss on the spot.”
Women also struggle with being
competitive. “Sometimes women are
inhibited by competing, which you
have to do for a pay rise or promotion.
It’s tough to overcome the voice that
says, ‘Don’t be selfish, put others
first,’” says Lovegrove.
Men are better at putting their
point across, too. Benjamin Williams,
a chartered psychologist, says this
comes both from socialisation through
childhood and the way our brains are
hard-wired. “Women are better at
listening and communicating than
men. From childhood, girls play
collaboratively, while boys are in
itinerant mobile groups, competitive and
noisy. They do a lot of shouting and not
much listening.” Fast forward to the
“While we’re hard-wired to lend a
sympathetic ear, we find it trickier
to get demanding in the office”
boardroom and this training is
still evident.
That’s not the only thing that holds
women back when it comes to the
art of negotiation. Helen Bartimote,
a chartered occupational psychologist,
says that women have a tendency
to see potential disaster, and so
do anything to avoid it. “This is
‘catastrophising’ a situation,” says
Helen. “Focussing on the fear of failure.
Women have a preference for focusing
on ‘feeling’ when making decisions,
whereas men are more likely to
approach the problem in a more logical,
‘thinking’ way. They consider what they
want to achieve and put that forward in
an assertive manner – leaving the
emotions to one side.”
So while we’re hard-wired to lend
a sympathetic ear more readily, we
also find it trickier to get demanding
in the office. It might not be the only
reason we’re still lagging behind men
in the paycheck department but it
does have some bearing on the lack
of zeros. So if you’re ready to negotiate
your way to a bigger salary, don
your biggest shoulder pads and follow
our six-step plan, devised by
a team of career experts.
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