Discrimination or Life Choices??

Do woman really make less money than men due to gender discrimination? Or do woman make less money than men due to their own life choices?

As Woman’s History Month progresses, I keep hearing about gender pay discrimination. News articles are throwing numbers out like $530k loss in lifetime salary due to gender discrimination. Now I want to know more. From my own personal experience, I do not see this being the case. Are the decisions I make a key factor? Have I just been lucky? Is this even a problem? Is this discrimination or life choices?

My First Jobs:

I started working at 14 making $5.50/hr. It was just seasonal work. At 15, I began working part time at my local mall making $6.25/hr. By the time I was 17, I wanted fulltime work, but had trouble finding something fulltime. I picked up 2 additional parttime jobs to make fulltime hours. My 3 jobs hourly wages ranged from $6.50 – $7.90/hr. When I turned 18, I found my first fulltime job making $10/hr.

How did this compare to males my age at that time? I have no idea what the statistics are, but I was making a similar hourly wage as my male friends were making at the time. I do not remember any specifics about what others were making, but I know I made more than some, but less than others. A male friend of mine worked at a stand in the farmer’s market making less than I was. Another male friend did landscape work in the summer and snow removal in the winter. He made more than me, but his job was clearly harder than mine. It all seemed pretty fair to me.

Just Entering Adulthood:

At 18, I got my first fulltime job. I was working retail making $10/hour. This was so exciting because I worked a 46 hour work week. $10/hour was more than I was making in my previous parttime jobs and that was 6 hours of time and a half every week. I thought this was good money for an 18 year old back in the 90s. Doing some research now, it looks like the average hourly wage for retail back then was $12-$14/hr.

Was I getting paid less because I was female? Or was I getting paid less because I was 18 and this was my first fulltime job? I was only able to find statistics for all of Pennsylvania. Are there other areas of the state with a higher wage than my little rural town? I wasn’t getting paid that much less than the average pay in Pennsylvania and I remember being very happy with my pay. I can’t imagine being satisfied with my paycheck if other retailers in my area were advertising for help with higher wages.

Now I’m 20 and have been working in retail for a few years. I started in the office, moved to receiving clerk, and then back to the office as the office manager. Apparently, no one stays in retail too long and there is plenty of opportunity for advancement. Each position came with some increases and now I’m bringing home $12/hr with at least 6 hours a week overtime. I couldn’t be happier. And just like that, I’m in the low end of the average pay for a retail working in PA.

My Next Career Move:

Shortly after I accepted the office manager position, the previous office manager who had left the company for another retailer, reached out to me. She told me that the retailer she moved on to was looking to hire a purchaser. This was a different type of position than what I had been doing, but she said she thought I would be great at it. I scheduled an appointment to come in and speak to her manager.

I wasn’t sure I wanted to make a move. But what could it hurt to see how it would go? The worst that could happen is that I waste an hour or so of my time. After meeting with the manager, he offers me the position. I am still not sure if I want to make the move. Here I am thinking I am already making good money, so when he asks what it will take to get me on board, I give a number I think is too high. I figure this way, I won’t have to say no if he declines or I will make more than I expected.

Apparently, asking for $14.50/hr was too low because he came back with “well this position starts at $16/hr, how does that sound?” After I picked my jaw off the floor, I accepted. Back then, no 20 year old that I knew was making $16/hr. I know I had a leg up into the position since I was recommended by my previous office manager. But I see it as, I was only recommended by her based on my work performance when we had worked together. We did not know each other prior to working together. There was no outside of work friendship built. It had to be based solely on the work performance.

Retail for Life:

15 years have gone by. I assumed that I would be a retailer for life. Even though I was only in my 30s, 15 years at one retail establishment made it feel like I was going to be there for life. There had to be something good about it or I would not have stayed that long. Especially since I only held 2 positions there in that amount of time.

I started in purchasing. I worked in that department for about 6 years. The position was purchasing specialty building materials like flooring, doors, and windows. It wasn’t bad, but it was boring. After 6 years, I needed a change. The company was good to me. My managers were good to me. I received positive reviews and pay raises every year. I was just bored doing to same thing day in and day out.

After speaking to my manager about how I was feeling about my job, he asked how I felt about sales. My purchasing position came with a Monday through Friday, 7-4 schedule which is pretty unheard of in retail. At this point in my life, I have young children and my current schedule makes it easier for daycare then a typical retail schedule. I wasn’t too excited about moving to the sales floor and giving up my hours. I asked for contractor sales. That would give me a steady schedule and still get me into sales for something different.

The Position Everyone Wanted:

This was a pretty sought-after position. Not because it was really any better than others, but because it came with a very attractive schedule in retail. My manager agreed to keep me in mind if a position there opened up. But he did warn me that there were other people from the sales floor that had been selling contractor-based products for a while now that were interested in that department. This sounded like his way of telling me that I wasn’t qualified and didn’t have a chance.

I pretty much accepted that I would be stuck in purchasing, have to give up my hours, or would need to look elsewhere for a job. Not 2 months later, one of the older gentlemen who worked in contractor sales became ill and decided to retire. I put my name in the hat for the job. I didn’t want to get my hopes up too high. It didn’t seem like my manager thought I really had a chance.

The manager who was conducting the interviews for contractor sale was the sales floor manager, not my operations manager. I had not previously had a lot of interaction with this manager. I met with him. He explained what the job entailed and what he expected of the person who got the position. We spoke about how I could be a good fit for the job. How I was ready for my next challenge and felt that I had gotten everything I could out of my current position.

The Decision:

It turns out that each person in contractor sales has a “specialty”. They have someone with a strong background in roofing and siding. Another one with a strong background in hardware/tools. Someone with a strong background in framing and decking. And the man who retired had been the one with the strong background in windows and doors.

I have learned way more about windows and doors while purchasing them for 6 years than the average person knows. In fact, I had the most window and door background out of any of the other people who interviewed. I just fell into the job I wanted. Did I really just fall into it though? Or did I get this job because I learned a lot about a specific item and used that knowledge to gain a better position? I have to believe that I got the job in contractor sales because I took my previous position seriously. I worked hard at learning as much as I could about the product I was purchasing.

My Big Girl Job:

After 9 years of contractor sales in a retail environment, it was time for a change. I didn’t think I would ever leave after a total of 15 years with the company, but I was ready. Even though I was working in contractor sales, many homeowners/retail customers found their way to the department. It was about the time an elderly woman came up to order windows and she gave me bags of yarn. She didn’t know how to use a tape measure, so she cut pieces of yarn the size of windows she needed. Yep, that was the moment I knew I had to go.

I began applying at different building materials distributors in my area. Finally, I got the call back. I interviewed and was offered a Window and Door Specialist position at a distributor. This is a place that is not open to the public. This place is contractor sales only. I was very excited to get out of retail. And of course, I was even more excited at the payrate. After 15 years in retail, I made my way above the retail average, over $24/hr.

This new job, for a new company, paid $18.50/hr plus commission. My first year, I made almost $10k more than my last job. I am still working for this same company. After 6 years, I am now the district Window and Door Manager and am making over $90k/year. Maybe I have lower expectations than others, but I am very happy with my accomplishments and my pay. I do not feel discriminated against in any way. I do not feel that I have been denied anything professionally.

Education:

Does education or lack thereof play a part in woman being paid less than men? That is also not my experience. I dropped out of high school in 11th grade. However, I did go back to night school and received my night school diploma. I have no further education. All I have is life experience, a strong work ethic, and a drive to do the best I can do.

All the statistics I can find about college attendance and graduation rates show that woman exceed men in both categories. If more women are attending and graduating college than men, how could education play a factor? Maybe I’m being ignorant, but I do not see education playing any part in the possibility of gender wage discrimination against woman. If I’m dismissing this too soon based off of the statistics I have found, please explain it to me.

Raising a Family:

It is definitely a struggle to juggle raising a family and a fulltime job. I do know this firsthand. I have been a single parent of 2 for the last 13 years. Child support and visitation has been sporadic. I learned early on in the separation, that I should just count on being able to raise my kids on my own and if help shows up every now and then, bonus for me.

When my kids were younger, I did have to make sure that the job that I had offered a schedule that allowed for daycare. I had never taken the positions in retail that required the night, weekend, and inconsistent schedules because it would have made daycare too hard to find or too expensive to afford.

As sexist as it may sound, I do believe that the majority of the caregivers of both children and older adults are woman. I know that there are men out there with those responsibilities, but I think the number of women being primary caregiver well outnumbers the men. Not haveing good availability to work would absolutely be a reason for less pay. Poor attendance or dependability would absolutely be a reason for less pay.

Life Choices:

I ask again, discrimination or life choices? How I see it is that if women are getting paid less than men having the same position, there is good chance life choices play a huge part. Just because you are doing the same job does not mean that you are doing the same work. Holding the same position does not mean having the same experience, attendance, or longevity.

If someone with less family responsibility, no matter the gender, is putting in longer hours or hours that better fit the job, the person putting in the additional time should be making more. Having more family responsibility often leads to more calling off to tend to family matters. Someone with a better attendance record, no matter the gender, should be making more. Gaps in employment history also happen regularly to someone with family responsibility. Having a continuous work history is more appealing to a business than someone who has large gaps. Employees should be rewarded for this longevity, no matter the gender.

Crazy Babble or Just My Voice of Reason?

Discrimination or life choices? What is the reason everyone claims that woman make less than men? To me, it seems like life choices are the reason for unequal pay. I have looked to my own life, and I have spoken to others I know about their personal experiences. I cannot believe that as wide spread of a problem as people claim this is, that I am unable to find anyone who has been affected personally.

Women I have spoken to who do make less money than men in a similar position have attendance issues or large gaps in their employment history. Most of those women I have spoken to who do make less, feel that it is due to gender discrimination. However, I feel life choices are the reason behind the pay difference.

If I am wrong in my opinion, can someone please explain this to me? I really want to know if this is really a thing. Please let me know if this is nothing more than my crazy babble or just a voice of reason. And don’t forget to vote on this post for the next Worst on the First!