Tis the season for setting goals. Tanja and Kara are talking about how we set goals as individuals and as a society. While this podcast is all about supporting ambitious people, what happens when we lose ourself in a goal? Or when we don’t reach a goal we set? Plus, is the narrative around resolutions inherently messed up?
And when it comes to self-care, there’s a difference between indulgence and healthy choices. It’s just not always clear.
Season 1 of The Fairer Cents is sponsored by FreshBooks, the cloud accounting software that’s changing the world for freelancers and small business owners everywhere. Go to www.freshbooks.com/tfc and enter “the fairer cents” in the how did you hear about us section to get your free one-month trail of FreshBooks.
The Fairer Cents Podcast 
In this episode the ladies mentioned that California had recently passed legislation that would help women close the gender pay gap by making it illegal to ask about prior compensation. Yay for that! So awesome! Shifting the negotiating power to the employee will only help. This piece of information really stuck with me because the day before I had seen a news headline that Iceland had just passed a law mandating pat equity for women. My usual feminist celebration dance was put on hold though. While I know that most women are earning less than their male counterparts for the same work (and that the disparity is even more pronounced in other parts of the world), I happen to be one career-minded female who makes more than her counterparts (both male and female).
When I made the move from my last company to my current one I negotiated HARD. Granted, I had my husband standing by to give me encouragement as I negotiated my pay and benefits over the phone, delivering the lines that we had practiced, but I still negotiated and got what I wanted. I’ve continued to press for more raises and benefits as I have grown with my current company. I have the work product to back it up, so this makes these negotiates better, but it still gives me so much anxiety when I know I am about to ask for more money. I know that I make more than my counterparts because they have told me their pay. Feeling guilty, I wiggle my way out of the conversation and make a mental note to encourage them to speak up and ask for more. My female counterparts almost never ask for more, my male counterparts do sometimes. Based on their comments they have not been as successful when negotiating.
Back to Iceland: I like the end result that they are looking to achieve, but I worry that the incentives are now aligned for companies to just reduce the wages that they pay males, not necessarily increase the wages that they pay females. If I was told that some of my counterparts had to make the same as me, my little capitalist brain would explode because I feel that I have earned more with my hard work, I bring more value, etc. etc. I like the approach that Cali took to shift the negotiating power in favor of the employee (male or female). That puts the power in their hands to make the ask, present their case for more compensation, and hopefully get what they want.
I think empowering more women to negotiate in effective ways will help us continue to close the gap, but I probably will be the only feminist who doesn’t want mandated pay equity- I want to make more than the men and I know that isn’t equal, but in some cases I still think it’s fair. *Hopefully this opens a discussion and not a can of troll-worms*