A question about the gender wage gap.

[SharonAnn]

1. As woman in the computer field for many, many years, I can say this -

Though I was paid better than women in other jobs, it was always about 15-25% lower than my male peers and promotions, when they happened, were slower than those for my male peers. Though I was one of the first women promoted into management in our division of thousands of employees and had a stellar performance record and was well-known for my accomplishments, I heard directly from some people that the only reason I was promoted was because they "had to put some women in management jobs".
Though there was pressure to do something, it was to provide "qualified women the same opportunities for promotion".

Leaving one employer to join another wasn't a solution, because they all paid that way in those days. And interestingly, when i came into a new position I always had "to prove myself" before being accepted. Men were assumed to be competent until proven otherwise and women were assumed to be incompetent until proven otherwise.

Yes, I was aware that it was unfair and was one who pushed to be sure other women got opportunities, but that was the world we lived in. I was single, well-educated, very good at my jobs, yet opportunities were nowhere near equal at that time. At least it got better because in my early work career I'd be told at interviews things like "We don't hire women for these jobs", "We tried hiring a woman once but it didn't work out", "women will just get married, pregnant and quit". After hearing that last one a few times, I blurted out 'I don't even have a date for Saturday night and you've already got me married, pregnant, and quitting!"

The cultural environment at that time was that women should be in subordinate positions, in the "caring" professions, and should be paid less than men. Only some of that has improved. Frankly, I thought we'd be further along by now.

Yet, I had some wonderful opportunities that women of previous generations didn't have and I appreciate that.