A letter from the Founding Editor in Pink magazine (www.pinkmagazine.com) by the above name recently caught my attention.  I’ve written about our need to reframe our failures and see them as tools for growth.  So, I was curious as to what Cynthia Good was referring to in the August.Spetember 2007 issue.

In short, Cynthia was saying that even though many companies are finally acknowledging, and slowly doing away with, the glass ceiling women still lag behind men in the types of positions we hold and the pay we receive for those positions.  Even in academia, the very institutions that are training the next generation, women fall behind men in terms of position and pay.

Cynthia’s point was that, as women, we can’t rely on our employer to put us on equal footing.  It is up to us to advocate for ourselves.  We must value our skills and talents enough to approach our superiors and ask for the pay, and/or position, we deserve.

Obviously this needs to be done with tact.  Barging into your boss’s office and demanding a raise will not go over well.  But, if, say during your next performance review, you come with a clip-book or a list of your accomplishments and how they have impacted the company, especially its bottom line, you will have a strong foundation for your request.

Most importantly, man or woman, we must value our abilities and what we bring to the table.  There is no one else with our exact skill set and our experiences.  We are unique in our ability to contribute to the success of a company and it is our job to make our contributions known.  So, when the timing is right, confidently approach your supervisor and prove to him your value is worth a pay increase/promotion.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 2nd, 2007 at 4:56 pm and is filed under World of Work. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.