A woman’s worth,
A woman’s worth; is overlooked in a career-driven world; as I have mentioned before, I worked in a male-dominated industry for nearly a decade.
I never played the gender card; I have always worked twice as hard. I needed to prove that I could do a man’s job just as well, if not better. I kept my head down, did the work, and put in many hours at night and over weekends. It paid off; I was in a managerial position after a few years and running the company two years later.
It was exhilarating knowing that I could get this position doing what I loved without compromising who or what I was. The company ran like a well-oiled machine for several years; we doubled our turnover every year for the last three years before I left. It was unheard of in our industry; we were a team that accomplished a lot together in a short amount of time; each employee was intricate to the whole operation.
I have always believed you pay a person their worth and give credit where credit is due, and I ensured this was always the case with the employees. I encouraged all the employees to strive for better, and I ensured they got the training they needed to build up their skill levels.
We had grown the company in a short amount of time and became a serious contender in our market, and we had leading innovation with our products. However, unfortunately, I never got the same treatment. I was still earning less than previous men that had my position, and there were men in the company that were making more than I was at the time.
I approached the owners of the company so that we could discuss this. They agreed that the previous male general managers made significantly more money than I did during the meeting. They also agreed that I had achieved far more than the last general manager in a shorter time frame.
However, they told me I was a single woman in her thirties, I have no children or family obligations, and therefore I did not need to earn as much as my previous male counterparts. I was being told that although I held the company’s highest position and earned less than some men in the company. It did not mean that they did not appreciate the efforts I made. A woman’s worth was obviously less than a man’s.
Regardless of what I achieved and all the records I broke, I was unfortunately still seen as an inferior woman that did not deserve to be paid a man’s salary. I never used my gender as an excuse or in any way to get ahead, but ultimately my gender was used against me. The world has jumped on the bandwagon claiming equality in the workplace. However, this is still far from true; women still earn less than their male counterparts.
Women are being promoted not necessarily for what they have achieved but merely as token appointments to prove that the company they work for has provided equal “opportunities.” This will create a huge problem down the line, promote people who deserve the position but pay them equally in relation to the position, equality needs to be fair not just a box ticked.
However, they told me I was a single woman in her thirties, I have no children or family obligations, and therefore I did not need to earn as much as my previous male counterparts. I was being told that although I held the company’s highest position and earned less than some men in the company. It did not mean that they did not appreciate the efforts I made. A woman’s worth was obviously less than a man’s.