[TriLUG] The biggest deterrent for women in tech

[Reginald Reed]

On Tue, Apr 30, 2013 at 2:48 PM, Brandon Van Every <bvanevery at gmail.com> wrote:
> A statistic I found notable, because it's the largest statistic of all the
> questions asked:
>
> *What do you think it will take for women to be successful in the
> technology field? (More than one response allowed)*
>
> Equal pay for men and women with same skill sets:
>
> Women: 65.5%                      Men: 46.8%
> Really?  Are there industries where the equality of pay situation is
> substantially better than the tech industry?  I mean, if you're shopping
> for equal pay, what are your career options?  Isn't discrimination
> everywhere, in roughly similar amounts?  If so, then there's no choice to
> be made here, and this statistic merely expresses a desire.

The equal pay thing is a very slippery slope, particularly when the
differences are not gross.  I can confidently say as a manager for
many year in corporate high tech companies that there are MANY
individuals doing the exact same jobs that have vastly different pay.
And by vast, I mean 15-25%, living in the same geography.  This
happens for a number of reasons, some as simple as the candidate
simply couldn't/didn't place a proper value on the marketability of
their skills and experience.  At the other end of the spectrum, I've
seen a couple of guys with a big pay difference because one had been
in the same job for a number of years where there were no salary
increases and the other job just got hired during an "upswing" period.

Not fun, especially for managers, to deal with.

--Reggie