General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Which Part of a Woman is 23% less than a Man? [View all]bettyellen
(47,209 posts)widely acknowledged by the bosses too. One boss told me he had to pay a single (10 years less inexperienced) guy as much as me when I had that job because he was dating and had to pay for the dinners. Yep, he spent more money on his salary when it didn't make sense. I think he felt more important supervising men because he didn't have much respect for women, and he could pal around with, and live vicariously through this guy. (who fucked everything up and lost his job 6 months later when they caught on)
You used to hear things like that said outright to your face in smaller companies, and worse there were inappropriate comments and harassment going on all the time too. Women had little recourse, but we would exchange stories and it was common in many fields. You can't afford to sue these people because they will get there people to cover up and have more money for lawyers. Plus, I love my field and didn't want to get blacklisted, so I just moved on.
Things have changed a lot in 25 years, and I work at a much larger company now where they actually do try to compensate women equally, and where harassment is almost non existent because they take policies those seriously and have real HR, not just an accountant. If you have always worked corporate, or weren't in the market 15-25 years ago, or are a man, I could see how you'd doubt things were that bad and that common. But they were.