Pay Gap Gets Personal

It was his laugh that I remember most.

I had just been offered the biggest job of my career, but the salary was not what I had expected. It was low. Shockingly low for the responsibility and public scrutiny I was about to have. So, I tried to negotiate. The president of the company laughed at me. Take it or leave it, he said. I did the only thing I could do at the time: I accepted the job.

I would go on to find out that the man who held the position before me, and the man who held it after I left, were paid significantly more than me for the same position. We’re not talking a few thousand dollars. It was closer to six figures more.

Washington state is among the worst in the country for the gender pay gap. Women in our state make $18,400 less per year than men, according to a study by the National Partnership for Women and Families, the largest gap in the country after only Utah.

It’s worse for women of color. Latina women make $35,402 a year less than their male white counterparts. Native American women $31,587 less, and Black women and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women each make about $28,000 less.

So, why is Washington state so much worse than other places? Partially, it’s the high pay in the tech workforce, which is dominated by men. Getting more women into tech and engineering jobs would certainly help close the gap. But that’s not a slam dunk either.

When women enter a field, studies show that the pay for that field declines. A Cornell study in 2016 showed that when the recreation field — jobs like summer camp management, city parks management, etc. — went from predominantly male to female from 1950 to 2000, wages for that field declined 57 percentage points. Similar declines occurred for ticket agents in the same period as those roles were held more and more by women.

This can also happen in STEM fields. When more women went into biology, for example, wages dropped 18%. When more women became graphic designers, pay dropped 34%.

Washington state can close the gender pay gap, but it will take all of us speaking out, and sharing our stories.

The opposite is also true. If you recall the film Hidden Figures about the Black women who did all the math for the scientists who sent the first people to the moon, it was based on the many women who were the first computers. Before computers were machines, they were people, and they weren’t paid particularly well despite the skill it took to do what they did.

But when this kind of computer programming started to attract more men to the field, salaries went through the roof. They remain among the highest paid jobs in the world.

Looking at these statistics might prompt a woman to start her own company so she can be her own boss, but the deck is stacked against us there, too. Men get about 98% of the $107 billion in venture capital investment made in startups each year, leaving women to fight over the remaining 2%. That has some women founders, me included, seeking alternative ways to fund their companies. Because let’s be honest: Fighting over scraps is both demoralizing and humiliating.

So, what can be done about the wage gap in Washington state?

One of the easiest things you can do is talk about it and share your stories. The Washington State Women’s Commission is launching a campaign called Activate 3.8, which aims to raise awareness of the 3.8 million Washington women and girls, who deserve to be paid as much as their male colleagues.

Support programs that help get more girls into professions with good pay, like STEM fields of course, but also trades like electricians and port workers. Employers can also do their own studies about pay gaps in their workforces and set goals for the company. Support for childcare, paid parental leave, and benefits like reproductive health and menopause care can also help women stay in their jobs and move up the ranks.

Washington state can close the gender pay gap — but it will take all of us speaking out, sharing our stories, and advocating for change. Don’t sit this one out. Join the Activate 3.8 discussion and share your story using #activate38. And, if you’re ever on the other side when a woman is trying to negotiate her salary, take her seriously and pay her what she’s worth.

Emily Parkhurst is the founder of women-oriented news and membership organization Formidable.