Hear Me Roar...damnit!

 

“She's gotta be street smart and educated

 Gotta good head on her shoulders

 A sexy swagger with sex appeal

 A grown woman hook up them home cook meals

 A grown woman who's confident

 Better recognize one where the grown ones sit

 And a grown woman knows how to tell you no

 A grown woman knows when to let you go

 You can have a big old car and big old house but next to God nothing else amounts to a:

Woman woman woman

 Strong Woman woman woman

 Grown Woman woman woman

 Special Woman woman woman

 Beautiful Woman woman woman

 Strong Woman woman woman

 Grown Woman woman woman

 Special Woman woman woman”

~ Raheem Devaughn - Woman

 

 

Not sure if anyone outside the world of HR was aware, but Tuesday, April 9 was “Equal Pay Day 2013.” Essentially, what this means is that WOMEN would have to work until April 9, 2013 to earn what Men earned in 2012. So WOMEN, females, the fairer sex, has to work 98 days or 3 months and 8 days or 14 weeks or 2352 hours or 141, 120 minutes or 8,457,200 seconds MORE than men to make the same about of money …on average. That is some bullshit. It is 2013!!

 

Congress enacted the Equal Pay Act to END unfair discrimination against women in 1963. That was 50 years ago!!!  It’s 2013 and women make 77 cents for every dollar a man makes and for some reason we are supposed to be turning flips about that? In 2010 women over 50 received 56 cents for every dollar a man collected from pensions. Are we supposed to feeeeel better because it used to be worse. How is it that it’s been 50 years, Congress created an official law…yet women are still underpaid. Then factor in how many single mother homes there are now versus 1963 so these women are the head of their household and not earning equal pay. 

 

I find that insulting. I know in my position, I’ve done salary analysis for various companies and positions and consistently seen women underpaid in comparison to men. This information is pointed out to leadership and as a whole, nothing is done about it. Oh ya, that’s right, women only  hold 4.2% of the CEO positions of Fortune 1000 so I guess 95.8% of the CEOs don’t give a damn about women being underpaid since they have their golden parachutes, stock options and executive compensation plans ensuring they never have to work again while the women supporting them and their companies perform the same or better. 

 

The graduate class I’m stuck in right now is Global HR. I found it interesting that it was found women generally do better and are more effective in expatriate roles (assignments in other countries for US based companies) than men do. (SEE, I was listening in class!!) They said this was inpart to women being more compassionate, empathetic  and open to listen to others in comparison to me. Because different countries have different cultures, women do a better job adapting, learning the customs, fitting in and not offending the nationals than men that go abroad and start barking orders. So the women expatriates are more effective but ask me if they make the same or more money than the male expatriates…NOPE.

 

I know that I am just one drop in a vast ocean of people but I endeavor to do what I can to ensure fairness and equality across the board. The longer I’m in HR, the more I understand why I was drawn to this field. The majority of people in HR came from more privileged backgrounds, leadership programs and for the most part have never really worked their way from the bottom up. They don’t get it. They don’t understand the plight of the working American and only focus on cutting corners or making dollars for their company. I refuse to become a corporate puppet. Ever.  You all know I will fire someone in a hot second, but if an employee is right, I will stand up for them all the way to the VP to ensure they are treated fairly. Most employees don’t have advocates in HR when that should be our role; fairness. As I’ve progressed in positions and access to information, I’m also able to get the ear of executive leadership I wasn’t able to bend before. Now when I conduct a salary analysis that shows women are severely underpaid in a particular job, I can lean on the management to correct the pay and bump the women up. 

 

I may not be able to change the world and get all women to making equal pay but damnit, I’m gonna get as many women equally paid as I can in my scope of influence. I feel the same way about Blacks, but that’s another rant for another day.