Will you be paying in Male Dollars or Female Dollars?

I recently read a Conference Board of Canada Report titled, “Women’s Leadership: Revitalizing Women’s Initiatives”. The report is written by Toddi Gutner and it describes both how women’s awareness and promotion has plateaued in corporate America, and how different companies are working to achieve gender and pay equity. I found the report to be particularly well written. It ignited within me a sense of desire to do something more, especially given the fact that every person can make a difference.

The conundrum is that as long as companies continue to exclude women from the upper echelons of management, no one will ever know what we are capable of doing. Gutner caught up with Jeffrey Maslow, Managing Director of Investment Banking Services at Goldman Sachs to record these few statements of his,

“We began to realize that there were very successful women with phenomenal results who brought profit to Goldman Sachs … that encouraged us to foster the development of most senior women at the firm”.

I applaud Goldman Sachs for making this realization and acting upon it, as in 2007 they won The Catalyst Award. I encourage the hundreds of other Canadian companies to go out and do the same. Think of what positive benefits we can affect for individuals in our workforce also known as friends, sisters, aunts, grandmothers, nieces, and mothers.

Here’s another way of putting it: women still get paid $0.72 on the dollar. Yes, that is in Canada as of 2008. Women have been underpaid for work of equal value for decades. In fact, if one were to examine the past 10 years of this inequity and study its financial impact on Canadian families and the economy, I expect that the results would be flabbergasting.

I’d like to conduct my own simple experiment here – the operative word being simple. Consider the case of a brother and sister who each perform work that is valued at $70,000 per annum in base salary. Let’s assume their salaries remain constant for 10 years starting in January 1998. Due to pay inequity in Canada, the sister is only getting paid $50,400 per annum because the company simply does not value her work as highly as it does her brother’s. That means that without considering inflation, raises, or the time effect on money, by January 2008 she does not have the benefit of the additional $19,600 that her brother does. If the brother had decided to invest his additional funds in a mutual fund earning the average 10% return over the ten years he would have an additional $343,611. I would demand a change if I were her.

Gutner identifies the success factors of women’s initiatives and promotion within businesses as the successful integration of these initiatives into the company’s business plan, operating women’s networking groups as business units, and engaging men in the equity issue. While I believe that there are other critical success factors in addition to the three listed by Gutner, but I also know that essentially, she’s on the right track. As simple as these statements are they have not yet been taken seriously. What more can be done to achieve this goal? We have passed legislation prohibiting gendered pay discrimination, we have innumerable corporate policies that reflect these sentiments, and we even have Pay Equity Officers in our businesses. Is it possible to make change?

I believe it is. I will fight for this right. I want my full pay-cheque this month and so should you.

There are Two Wolves Inside Each of Us

Inspired by Thomas King’s lecture, “The Amazing Race”

On September 20th, 2007 I attended a lecture given by Thomas King at York University with a friend. What I heard at this lecture brought things to my attention that have changed lifestyle. It has even changed the way I think about things to a certain extent, although, probably not enough.

In high school I read two of Mr. King’s novels, Truth and Bright Water and Medicine River. Needless to say, when my friend invited me to attend this lecture I jumped at the opportunity. Thomas King is a great story-teller. His stories are both light and remarkably true to human nature.

That night in September he started off by telling the audience that every person has within them two wolves. One wolf represents the good in the world and the potential for good within each person, while the other symbolizes the evil. These wolves fight daily for supremacy – one gaining incrementally whenever the other loses. I will not deign to put into words what is so lovingly preserved in oral tradition. I will tell you, however, that what Thomas King said that night about sustainability is sure to stay with me for years yet to come.

King spoke about many topics that night, ranging from house construction to social responsibility to bottled water. To take the latter as an example, King raised my awareness of the symbolism of bottled water in today’s society. “No one will ever go broke in North America by selling convenience”, quoth he. King went on to point out that first and foremost the dwellers of many first world countries are driven by the need for convenience, which is not political, economic, or social in nature. A need, King also mentions, which has been invented so that others can profit from it.

You know, to be perfectly honest with you, I have bought two bottles of water since September. I suppose that just goes to show you that I still buy into this fabricated need for convenience, literally. What I have also done, however, is picked up on one of his ideas to stop this market and discourage these sellers of convenience.

Anyone who knows me well – I mean really well – will know Raoul. Raoul is the name of my water bottle. Here, let me explain: Thomas King issued a challenge to all present at that lecture to go out and make even one difference in the world. Instead of buying extra plastic every time you want water, buy a bottle in which you can carry your own water. You are saving bottles upon bottles of plastic by doing this. His suggestion was to have a little fun while being environmentally friendly – invite your friends to buy bottles, and then give your bottles names and have bottle parties! Thank you Thomas King. I now carry Raoul with me practically every where I go.

The other point that King made that I want to bring to the attention of my readers was a particularly frightening statement. That night he remarked that we are often not interested or scared enough to make large-scale changes that will benefit our environment. He went on to say that we have pushed the earth right to the very edge of a cliff, yet we still seem content to stand by at the railing and take pictures as we watch Her fall a height which we know She will not survive. Think about that – this author has put into imagery what we are doing in reality. Perhaps the slope is not as steep as it as long and treacherous, or perhaps it really is a sheer drop. When I think about this I am deeply disturbed by the idea. I have had nightmares about this and what lies ahead for me, my children and my grand-children. What really makes me ashamed is that I have participated in the pushing of the earth towards the cliff and I still do. I am there too, at the railing with my camera ready. I am part of the destruction of my own planet. I am party to the destruction of every thing and body on this earth coming to an end because my species have torn the world apart with our ways.

I can only hope that I am also a part of some sort of environmentally conscientious movement and then act on it. As King said, stories won’t save us if we don’t have the will to act upon them. God grant me the will to act upon my plans and help others to act on theirs, too. I voted Green, so let me act like it. I pray and am inspired to encourage you to act on your plan, too.
What happens to the wolves, you may ask. Who wins in the end? As King recollects, the one that wins is the one you feed.