Why Its Time to Close the Gender Pay Gap

Why It’s Time to Close the Gender Pay Gap Sponsored by Jobbio: While the gender pay gap is widely discussed, there are still those of us who question its validity, claiming that women are more focused on parenthood, that they don’t negotiate their salary effectively or that they simply lack ambition. While there are, of course, other factors in play when it comes to salary negotiation, there is and will remain to be a massive disparity if we allow this narrative to continue. Its time to shatter the glass In September of this year, Jobbio commissioned original research across London and New York to highlight what the gender pay gap looks like in real life situations. We focused on men and women working in senior positions within the tech sector, the roles included CFO, Marketing Manager, Web Developer, Software Engineer and Content Creator. The titles were the same. The skillsets were the same. The levels of experience were the same. The salaries were not.  We expected fluctuations but the extent to which women were underpaid in comparison to men was really troubling. In all but two of the roles we looked at, men were on a higher, often much higher salary than women. Of those surveyed, CFOs in London had the largest disparity with men earning on average £48,600 more than their female equivalents. Of the New York-based CFOs, men earned on average $188,000 while female CFOs earned $140,250. _ A clear difference The two roles in which women outgrossed men, were Content Creators in London, where women earned an extra £12,250 and Graphic Designers in New York who earned $12,500 more than their male counterparts. To end inequality, we must first acknowledge that inequality and that’s what our research set out to do. Not to point fingers, not to blame individuals for a systemic problem but to illustrate the issue and continue the discussion. This is how people reacted to the results: In response to the results, Jobbio has launched the #ShatterTheGlass channel, a curated feed of jobs in companies who have shown a commitment to closing the gender pay gap and supporting women in the workplace. It won’t eliminate the disparity overnight but it’s a positive step towards change. To bridge the gap we need to increase transparency, facilitate discussion and admit that we’re operating in a system which is broken. This Equal Pay Day, join Jobbio in the fight for workplace equality. Check out the #ShatterTheGlass channel.   About the author: Aoife  Geary  is a Content Creator at Jobbio specializing in the areas of Workplace Culture, Diversity, Startups and Digital Trends. Shes fond of a burrito and even more fond of a bad pun.