The Wage Gap Makes Perfect Sense When Tech Executives Say What They Really Think About Women

[eridani]

http://www.thenation.com/blog/182076/wage-gap-makes-perfect-sense-when-tech-executives-say-what-they-really-think-about-women

He’s only the latest tech executive to put his well-paid foot in his mouth when giving advice to female employees. Just weeks before, Australian Evan Thornley, who founded the online advertising company LookSmart, told an audience that he could hire talented women “relatively cheap to someone less good of a different gender.” The pay gap, for him, represents “great arbitrage.” Women: talent on the cheap thanks to the gender wage gap.

He also later backtracked, saying that his intention didn’t come out right—he meant to deride gender inequality in the tech industry and urge other companies to “hire talented women and pay them properly” instead of hiring incompetent men and giving them top dollar.

But what leaked out of these two executives’ mouths likely contains a good deal of truth. It is a narrow window into what they, and many of their peers, really think about women—which usually goes unsaid. And it exposes the fact that all the nice talk about wanting greater diversity may stand little chance against the unconscious (and sometimes very conscious) biases women face in the tech industry. The misconceptions and unfair perceptions of women swirling in men’s heads hold women back. And the reality is, women are underpaid in tech. Women working in science, technology, engineering or math (commonly known as STEM) jobs make $15,900 less than men a year. College-educated women in Silicon Valley make $21,599 less. Even with various factors taken into consideration, female computer scientists make 89 percent of what male ones make. Looking at the data, it’s obvious that politely waiting until bosses offer raises isn’t working.

But they’re not just paid less. They’re also scarce. A new trend emerged recently: starting with Google in May, tech companies finally began releasing the demographic breakdowns of their workforces. Nearly every one has come with the familiar caveat that they want to do better and improve the numbers. Even so, as it stands, they all look eerily similar. Here’s women’s share of technical (not administrative or supportive) jobs at each: Twitter, 10 percent; Yahoo!, 15 percent; Facebook, 15 percent; Google, 17 percent; Apple, 20 percent; Pinterest, 21 percent; eBay, 24 percent; and Microsoft, where women are probably now thinking twice about asking for a raise, 17 percent.

[unblock]

1. a lot of it has to do with negotiation and perceptions thereof

the stereotype is that women aren't as good as men at negotiating their compensation.

i've heard some studies that back this up, e.g., that women are far more likely to simply accept the offered wage without challenging it. when i hear about these studies in the media, of course they don't explain that there might be discriminatory reasons behind this, that perhaps there are sexist reasons why women aren't taught to be effective negotiators.

worse, these studies in the media only serve to undermine women's negotiating position. good negotiators understand that a perception of weakness is terrible to a negotiating position. so out comes this study that basically tells hiring managers that women are weak negotiators and often take the first offer. what is a hiring manager going to do?

that's right, a hiring manager is more likely to lowball a woman and try to take advantage, offer the woman a compensation level that they know a man might find insulting.

of course it helps to actually be a good negotiator; naturally not all women fit the stereotype, but even excellent individual negotiators are at a disadvantage but anyone would be set back in asking for more money if the media was telling people you'll accept less.

[hollysmom]

4. I wa a bad negotiator for years, my motehr expected me to find a rich husband and stay married

So she would never let me discuss money (or scrub floors - can't eat off my floors). I did poorly at negotiations, until I started speaking of myself in the third person, and that is how I did it. I fought for that person (me) who worked for me. How well did that work, I had one woman boss who complained I was too concerned about money, and one year I negotiated a raise that was higher than what she was making. In the end, we both changed jobs a lot and we both made out well. She got more perks and I got more cash.

[KitSileya]

5. Not to mention, women are penalized if they do ask for reasonable (aka men's) raises

Research shows that women asking for what they are really worth, and not the low-ball, 'women's' raise, is seen as negative by the employers, and so women are in fact less likely to get a higher raise if they do ask for a higher wage. It's damned if you do, damned if you don't misogyny built into the system.

[unblock]

6. right -- as long as they believe there's another woman out there willing to work for less

you can see how they can see it as just plain straightforward business sense and not even realize they're perpetuating sex discrimination.

[redruddyred]

7. is it just me...

or does it seem mildly futile to negotiate with someone who doesn't respect you enough to cut a fair deal in the first place?

in my experience, if that's what they're offering, that's probably what they think you're worth.

[sheshe2]

2. Sure, Satya

What an ass you are. Of course these women are the ones that you want to heap more responsibility on~ More work less pay ! You win and the woman loses.

You really think we are that stupid!?

Last week, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella sparked a firestorm of criticism for comments he made at a women-in-tech conference in which he suggested that employees who feel underpaid should wait it out rather than ask for more money. But he went even further, saying something many headlines missed: a woman who doesn’t ask for a raise, he added, is “the kind of person that I want to trust.That’s the kind of person that I want to really give more responsibility to.” Executive to pushy women who ask for more: Could you not?

The backlash was so swift and severe that he had issued a backpedaling e-mail by the end of the business day.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/182076/wage-gap-makes-perfect-sense-when-tech-executives-say-what-they-really-think-about-women#

[hollysmom]

3. In the dark ages when I started computer programming was considered a clerical job for woman and

I could have made twice as much money as a secretary. But I liked the creativity and the beauty of the logic. There were a few guys in the business, never considered a great job and most of them were in management without a n understanding of the work. But then they started offering draft deferments and guys started working and the salaries started raising. I had to keep my ear to the ground about salaried - and my first job really was unhappy when a new employee told us how much they were making and it was more than those of us who had been there for a year, even with our merit raises. They did not like strikes, heck they still owned segregated housing and they would not hire blacks as anyone except the lowest clerks and janitorial, I had a friend who was passing.

As more men got into the job, it paid better, but still you had to fight for raises to stay near a guy with half your experience, so I went the consultant path where you could just set your fee, and I worked through an agency that did not just negotiate a rate and then give you an amount, (hint, guys got a higher percentage of the rate) but this agency got a fixed percentage of the rate you negotiated, so they always informed us what everyone was getting in that company so we could get the most out of it.

Of course, I did have one young woman innocently tell me when I was leaving , that she did not want to hire me because it would be like giving orders to her mother, although she did not have a problem with any of the older guys. But she said I was easy to work with, didn't need supervision, etc... So much so they fired most of the guys they hired with me and had me hire all the other consultants. I hired mostly women, ha ha .