Research is confirming what many women have known for decades: businesses that have women in the top management outperform their peers. A study by McKinsey, across 366 companies, showed that firms with greater gender and ethnic diversity outperformed competitors by up to 25% above the expected norm.
Despite the demonstrable benefits, not all industries have been quick to diversify their workforce and invite women into senior roles. The lack of progression not only stunts the growth of individual firms, but it leads to women earning much less than men, in general. Even in developed countries, like the USA, women lag behind their male counterparts in terms of salary levels. PayScale recently attempted to quantify the actual difference in terms of cents in the dollar:
“In 2021, women earn[ed] 82 cents for every dollar earned by men.”
The so-called ‘opportunity pay gap’ (based on the average salary for men and women irrespective of the type of work) highlights stark differences between the sexes. One must ask why this is the case?
Patriarchal norms
One explanation could be the influence that patriarchal norms have had in political and economic spheres. Men occupy the majority of leadership positions worldwide. Today, only 22 out of 193 countries— according to the UN—have female political leaders. Likewise, men dominate top management jobs.
Leah Steele, holistic wealth strategist and thought leader, is on a mission to educate women worldwide about their “divine right” to be wealthy. She explains that the “first step is to undo wrong thought patterns…then it’s a reeducation about what money and wealth is. It’s about deconstructing the programming that happens to each and every one of us from the time we first take breath on this planet.”
Society has promoted the idea that there are certain jobs which only women should do. They are directed towards professions in health, caregiving or education. By comparison, men are ushered into higher paid positions in male-dominated industries like building and construction. From the outset, women are led to believe that they should focus only on ‘appropriate’ industries. By ring-fencing the more lucrative jobs, women are effectively excluded.
Forced to leave work
Also, there is a greater likelihood that women will be forced to leave the workforce to care for loved ones or to have children. A return to the workplace is largely determined by the level of benefits, including medical insurance, that they have access to. 2019 figures, from the US, suggest that only 19% of workers had paid family leave. Only 40% had access to short term disability to deal with their own medical emergencies.
In cases where women are unable to return to work, due to financial constraints, they will have large gaps in their employment history. These gaps are perceived as a lack of experience, which only hampers further attempts to improve their career prospects. For women who are forced to balance caregiving ,or raising children, with a career, it is more likely they will work a part-time job where they receive a lower income.
Is a woman worth less than a man?
Finally, and yet irrationally, there is a propensity for employers to offer a woman less money, simply because of her gender. Even though pay discrimination is an offense, and has been since 1963, many employers simply feel that women deserve a smaller salary than men. Again, this is based on patriarchal norms, where the man is seen as the ‘head of the home’; ‘the breadwinner’ who deserves a bigger paycheck. Salary decisions are often made on the basis of someone’s historical earnings. If a woman has always been underpaid then it may be harder for her to challenge the status quo. Steele describes this as “main money issue, holding women back from their infinite potential” and also part of the wider “state of ‘financial slavery’, created on purpose to serve a global financial agenda that benefits an elite few. It has been extremely effective until now. A huge shift is happening…the systems and structures are beginning to crumble.”
Signs of change
Economic empowerment for women, however, is gaining recognition as a vital component for strengthening the global economy. The National Security Strategy, 2017, states that: “Societies that empower women to participate fully in civic and economic life are more prosperous and peaceful.” USAID (the international development agency) has already indicated that women have the ability to halt debilitating poverty, grow the economy and completely change the face of society. The US government further indicated its commitment to bringing equality front and center by establishing the Woman’s Global Development Prosperity Initiative. This new fund, established in 2019, promises to help close the gender equality gap by attacking three major areas : educating women for the workforce, helping women become entrepreneurs and working to remove barriers (legal, regulatory and cultural). As Steele sees it: “Women are moving out of a place where money has control over them and into a place where money is a neutral resource: a tool to live and abound.”
