Does anyone else remember the rally’s in the 70’s, when women we’re fighting for the “Equal Rights Amendment”? I can remember attending them with my mom when I was just 6 years old, growing up in California. I didn’t really understand what the big deal was back then - wasn't it obvious that all humans shoudl be created equal? I couldn’t understand what sex, color, race, or religious beliefs had to do with human rights back then; and the sad truth is that this needless fight is one we are still fighting today …
This week I saw this snippet from an article in Forbes magazine:
Working women over the age of 16 made 82 cents for every dollar earned by men in 2022, according to a study from Pew Research Center, released Wednesday—a rate that hasn’t meaningfully changed since 2002.
It made me pause. Yes we are making baby steps of progress - in 1982 women earned just 65 cents for every dollar earned by men, so today we are technically closer to closing but gap- but, anything less than equal is not enough.
Especially when the story of women today is one of overcompensating. We aren’t working 82% as efficiently - we are actually OVERACHIEVING. Putting everything & more out there as we fight for what we deserve, while men take the paved road to the top.
I am continually hearing women talk about how hard they are working- long hours with zero work life balance. You would think with all this hustle we would have closed the gap, we would be closing the gap, but instead we’re just causing our own demise. We’re burnt out, we’re exhausted - we’re on our last leg.
What no one is talking about is that women often feel the need to work harder than anyone else in the office just to be seen as worthy and valuable let alone to make as much money as “Joe” sitting across the table with the same job yet making $100k annually to her $82,000 with 2x the blood sweat and tears.
I recently got an email from a women who stated:
"I have been in a period of self-disappointment, self-reflection and really everything in between.”
The truth is - We are harder on ourselves than anyone else.
I know this from personal experience. I am a serial “overachiever”. This has come to light more recently since I left a regular 9 to 5 J-O-B and find myself looking to achieve in other areas of my life (and luckily catching myself!). For example, I jumped back into full time coaching in January after a “hiccup” of being enticed back into corp in 2021-2022. I was burned out from the stress and pressure of the J-O-B and gave myself 100 days to recover and replenish.
But, even having rested & "knowing better", when I jumped into my own business with my own hours, I saw myself falling into the same old habits of pushing myself too reach goals, while sacrificing my self care. My inner overachiever is still wanting to be seen and valued.
Our balance can go out the window when we get hooked in the grip of this part of ourselves - this hurt little girl wanting to be seen. No matter how many pennies on the dollar we are making compared to our male counterparts, none of it matters until WE see ourselves as the most powerful humans in the room.
So although we need to not just minimize the gap in pay but delete it all together, we also need to rewire the overachiever inside and realize just how BADASS we are RIGHT NOW!