Yes, Women Still Make Less than Men

Attendance was a bit spotty at Denver's Equal Pay Day rally yesterday, but my sister, a friend, and I showed up and held our signs and did our part. What was disconcerting, though, were the recent conversations I had with women about the equal-pay issue. Some of the comments:

"There's not really a problem with that, is there?"

"That's not an issue with high-level jobs."

"Oh really?" followed by dead and most definitely uninterested silence

Wake UP, ladies! This is not just about women working in low-paying jobs (as if that would be OK anyway). The median salary for women attorneys was 71% of the median salary of men in 2006. Don't believe me? Think that all numbers are lies and that statistical studies are twisted? See for yourself on the Bureau of Labor Statistics website, where they list the median weekly salary for hundreds of professions for both men and women.

What do we want? EQUAL PAY!

When do we want it? NOW!

One Small Step for Womankind

SB 122, The Wage Transparency Act, was signed into law last week by Governor Bill Ritter. SB 122 protects employees who share wage and salary information with their co-workers. The lack of information, or transparency, about wages and salaries is a key obstacle to identifying and correcting pay discrimination.

And boy howdy, is there still discrimination. Women in Colorado still make only 81 cents on the dollar compared to men. The studies control for factors such as time on the job and experience, but there's still a big chunk that just isn't explained by anything other than plain old gender bias. The story for men and women of color is even sadder. Check out the Colorado Pay Equity Commission's study "Fulfilling the Promise: Closing the Pay Gap for Women and Minorities in Colorado" for more details and the facts of the matter.

Life Is Full of Flowers

One of three long-time friends who have recently resigned from their jobs came over for lunch yesterday. A long lunch on the deck with someone who is loving life, freedom, and her new perspective is quite a treat, I've got to say. A sweet surprise was that she supported my jewelry habit by buying three of my pieces. And she brought the most beautiful Gerbera daisies in a vase that looks like a picture from a magazine.

A couple of weeks ago, a wonderful, arty friend came over to give me some decorating ideas that will mesh with our new paint colors. And she brought pussywillow and other branches from her garden.

Last week, another friend invited me over to her house for a girls' night and sent me home with a vase full of forsythia branches after a wonderful night of eating and chatting.

My life is full of friends whose love is so vibrantly represented by these beautiful, living things that serve as a daily reminder of how rich life is.

Power Shift

Yesterday I got an email saying that the interview team associated with a job I applied for was "uniformly impressed by your experience and accomplishments," but I did not get the job. And neither did the other two second-round candidates. The interview team is starting over in their search process.

My initial reaction was that I couldn't possibly give up--if I wrote something compelling enough, they'd see just how passionate and smart I was and reconsider. I wrote a long email that discussed the flaws inherent in the traditional interview process and recounted all the ways the interview team had said I was a fit for the position. But I didn't click send. Thankfully. I called to talk a friend, who is also a life coach, about nonprofit issues and ended up telling her about said email.

The conversation went something like this:

Her: It sounds like you're really attached to this.
Me: YES! Even if I don't get the job, I don't want them to repeat the same process and end up in the same place.
Her: What are you going to get out of telling them they're wrong?
Me: Hmm... probably not a whole lot.
Her: What is the likelihood that they'll reconsider you as a candidate or change their hiring process?
Me: Practically nonexistent.
Her: So is that really what you want to do?
Me: No. It's not a very gracious way to end the relationship.

With a few well chosen words and questions, Laurie helped me realize that my need to be right was going to cause me to give away my power and make me look like an idiot. I deleted the entire email except the part that said thank you and good luck. My power returned. My positive energy returned.

Effective coaching packs one heck of a wallop--I had a complete change of perspective in under two minutes. Wow.

Efficacy of Interviews

Job interviews are tough. You have to spend a lot of time researching the company, preparing for the questions the interviewers might ask, getting mentally psyched up to present your "best self," and picturing yourself as a success in the job. And when you're at the interview, you have to remember to relax, smile, and be your true self. No pressure, right?

I'm wondering just how effective the traditional interview can be. One of the recruiters I worked with gave me a set of thirty behavioral interview questions (the kind that asks you to recall an example of a time of when you actually did something rather than asking how you would act in a hypothetical situation). I prepped for them all and can recall being asked such a question exactly twice.

How can someone make a decision about you based on a cover letter, resume, and two one-hour interactions that are forced and high stress? I'm surprised that even a team of interviewers can decide who to put in charge of the finances of an organization or the organization itself when the candidates are all people they barely know. Has anyone talked to even one of my ten professional references? Read my blog? Looked at the jewelry on my Etsy site? Visited my LinkedIn profile? I wonder.

I've heard some people compare the interview process to dating, but I don't know too many people who go on two dates to meet the other person's parents in their home and then decide to get married. Would it be too much to ask to spend a day in the organization? Or to go to lunch or coffee and just sit and chat for a while? Where is the relationship-building--the connection--in this process?