Barbara Alfors Coaching and Consulting

How can you help bridge the gap?

Earlier this year I went to a Women in Architecture AIA event (WiA) that presented the Equity by Design survey results¹ from 2016.  This survey enumerated how far people of color (PoC) and women have to go to be treated equally in the workplace.

I was really energized when I heard the enthusiasm that the presenters and attendees had for tackling this issue – they even had the backing of the AIA!  The enthusiasm was contagious and  I made plans to put together workshops and tools for firms to use in combatting these issues in their own offices.

However, when I started researching and digging into it further, I realized how challenging this particular problem can be.  I met with people who do diversity training for firms, and even they said there’s no way to state the issue plainly and expect anything but pushback from firm leadership, regardless of how well that firm is actually doing with diversity issues.  In fact, diversity training often results in poorer outcomes because once the diversity checkbox gets ticked off in people’s heads, they figure they don’t have to focus on it anymore.

In my July post I promised some ideas about what we can do to tackle the pay gap for women and people of color. Most of us are not willing to start any lawsuits, which are costly and notoriously difficult to win.

If not through legal channels, then what?  Start with one small action at a time.

For those of you in leadership positions, encourage your team to consider whether bias is creeping into judgements on performance. Be aware that cultural issues such as hairstyles, clothing styles, or accents may be contributing to judgements about a person’s performance. Encourage the firm leadership to do a salary review.

If there are employees with performance issues, talk to them. Are there any situations in the workplace contributing to the person not performing their best? Constant microagressions can cause major stress and even lead to burnout.  If any of these issues are present in the workplace, they should be addressed.

If you aren’t in a leadership role, use your voice as often as possible.  Support others who speak up.  You may not agree with their message, but it is easy for dominant voices to take over a discussion and women and PoC to be dismissed without much consideration.  Talk to your co-workers about supporting each other, and lead by example wherever you can.

Realize that there are layers of privilege.  Although the pay gap between white women and white men is significant, it’s minor compared to the gap for people of color.  Be mindful that your efforts to promote women’s voices aren’t at the expense of PoC.

1: http://eqxdesign.com/survey-2016

If you would like to explore how to brighten your career path, or are just curious about coaching, contact me to schedule a complimentary discovery session.

Working While Woman

I started looking into women’s issues in architecture, and what I found mirrors a lot of the problems in our culture – not just for women, but for people of color (PoC), LGBTQ, disabled, and other people who don’t fit the stereotypical image of successful people in a variety of occupations.

There has been a lot of coverage of the pay gap between average men’s and women’s salaries. People like to diminish the importance of this by suggesting that it’s because women often take maternity leave, or don’t work as many hours after having children and so aren’t at the same experience level. This might explain some of the pay gap in a general population study. However, a San Francisco AIA committee called Equity by Design did a study indicating that in architecture the gap holds true when comparing equal job titles and equal experience levels, and actually increases at greater experience levels.¹

In researching further I came across an article claiming that “the pay gap could be closed by 2044 instead of 2080 if we do these three things!”²  I was appalled (2080!?), but also encouraged at the prospect of actually closing the gap.

Until I read it.

Their suggestions:

1. Digital fluency, such as using social media to network and online banking.
2. Women should get jobs in higher-paying fields.
3. Tech immersion: take a coding course!

Huh. None of these seems likely to be the problem for women professionals.

The article was based on the consulting firm Accenture’s study of “developed markets,” so perhaps I’m being unfair trying to look at these suggestions through the lens of professional women. But the reality is that pay gaps and promotion gaps persist in professional and tech fields, for both women and PoC. Issues such as workplace harassment are driving women from tech and science professions, and the cognitive bias that women and PoC just aren’t as good at certain tasks (such as leadership or coding) lead to lower rates of promotion. Unfortunately the fact is that women and PoC have to work harder and never make mistakes, and they still aren’t perceived to be as effective as white men.³

There are so many more issues to unpack here that I couldn’t possibly address them all. But I’ll follow up on this in a future post with some thoughts on what we can start to do about it. Let me know your thoughts or experiences in the comments!

If you would like to explore how to brighten your path, or are just curious about coaching, contact me to schedule a complimentary discovery session.

References:
1 http://eqxdesign.com/blog?category=Metrics
2 http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/07/pf/gender-pay-gap/index.html
3 http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/01/14/women-and-leadership/

Recommended reading:
http://archiparlour.org/six-myths-about-women-and-architecture/
http://www.cracked.com/blog/8-a242423oles-who-show-up-every-time-word-feminism-used/ (strong language)
http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/flip-script-women-workplace-0#main-content
https://monicacatherine.com/2017/04/05/dear-microsoft-no/