It is no news. Women, the world over, earn less than men. Some of the famous gender pay gap is due to women’s professional choices, and to baby breaks. But this paper by Gillian Paull shows that, even when you carefully account for baby breaks, education and sector (and more), there still is a gap left.

What. The heck. Is That Gap??

Theory Number 1

Women don’t negotiate – at all, or don’t negotiate well. Employers know this, and rationally, take advantage of it by paying less than they would to a man (who can be expected to negotiate). A lot of popular books look into this, and its potential remedies, like Know Your Value by Mika.

I am sure this explains part of it, but not all. How about

Theory Number 2

Women are not allowed to signal success. This one is my favorite, and the one of which I seem to have most anecdotal evidence. Time and again I see men recount their successes. Not offensively so, but certainly confidently, and always attributing success to their own achievements. Never, really never, have I seen a man in the workplace attribute his success to luck or fate. When women signal their own success, it provokes smirks, mockery, or criticism. Cohorts of middle management feel entitled if not right-out divinely called to chip away at that evil woman’s assertiveness.

The women in my sample have ended up with one of three results: (i) They stop signaling. Their assertiveness leaves them never to return, and they go on producing successes no one ever attributes to them. This is the most frequent outcome, which naturally also results in lower wages. (ii) They withdraw and leave jobs until they find an environment that is fairer in its assessment, or they create it themselves in a start-up. This is somewhat rarer and can take a long time. And the rarest outcome is that (iii) women stay where they are, put their chin up and face the criticism right on. Those that are successful with it sometimes have an older male supportive colleague that negotiates their fate like an old-testament dad would the future of his daughter.

Some women have looked through the dynamics of i-iii and made a conscious effort to stay at iii. Several of them are very senior.

Theory Number 3

Women do not know their value. And they don’t know that they don’t know it. The most striking example I read about is this one. In the world of fashion and fast cars, models and women with similar exceptional beauty attend VIP parties without charging for their presence, while the VIP ‘friend’ that brokered their attendance gets a juicy commission.

Before I write myself into a complete rage, let’s spend that energy on a solution.

# 1 Remedy

Wake up, and sisterize. What about the following strategy, ladies: (i) realize that in many situations you are not paid (enough) when you should be, (ii) act in solidarity with each other and enlist as many friends as possible when making your claim for higher pay. The good old fashioned trade unions have been shown to work some way towards reducing gender pay gaps. But even without formal unionization, an informal united front of women (let’s call it sisterization) that share information and claim payment at value should go a long way.

This takes the humble realization that we are replaceable. Whenever we are not, we can negotiate as monopolists. But when we are, it takes a sisterhood.