COLUMN: Confidence can make all the difference
It's taken me a long time to formulate a true opinion on the matter of the gender wage gap on Central Michigan University's campus.
On one hand, it's something women have dealt with for a long time. It's ingrained in the nature of higher education to not pay women what they pay men. Women are always getting passed over for promotions, raises and even department chairs.
The university has been fairly transparent about the matter, showing us numbers that say if they keep on track with new hires, women someday be equally represented throughout the ranks of faculty members.
It's not just the university's fault, though.
Recently, I read an article on The Atlantic about women in the workplace lacking confidence. Katty Kay and Claire Shipman pointed out that women are underrepresented in the top leadership in corporations simply because they're scared they aren't perfect at what they do.
"The statistics are well known: at the top, especially, women are nearly absent, and our numbers are barely increasing," the two women reported in the April 14 article. "Half a century since women first forced open the boardroom doors, our career trajectories still look very different from men’s."
The lack of confidence can affect the opportunities for promotions and the like.
“There’s just a natural sort of feeling among the women that they will not get a prestigious job, so why bother trying,” Victoria Brescoll, a professor at Yale explained to Kay and Shipman. “Or they think that they are not totally competent in the area, so they’re not going to go for it.” As a result, female students tend to opt out. “They end up going into less competitive fields, like human resources or marketing,” she said. “They don’t go for finance, investment banks, or senior-track faculty positions.”
I've noticed this phenomenal lack of confidence in myself, lately. I haven't gone for the cutthroat questions with administrators because I don't want to seem pushy. I haven't tried for an editor position at CM Life because I didn't want people to dislike me or my leadership style.
The lack of confidence won't help me get to where I want to be, though. The self-doubt and perfectionism isn't going to get me an editor position or gain me the respect of my peers and coworkers.
Maybe this lack of confidence is reflected in some of the female faculty members at CMU. They may feel like they don't deserve that new class or the salary adjustment because they don't think they've fulfilled every requirement for the job description.
Maybe that's why only seven of the 40 department chairs are female.
Maybe that's why only five women are in the top 50 highest paid faculty members.
Maybe that's why we're still fighting for equality in the workplace.
But maybe some women are still scared to really fight because they don't think they'll be heard.
My experiences have led me to the conclusion that I won't get anything without asking for it. I have to be braver, more tenacious with my goals, more willing to stick my neck out there to get what I want out of life.
If more women want to get to the next level, they're going to have to do the same.
I've been told by multiple sources that the gap will take a generation to close. Closing the wage gap really starts with Millennial women pushing for it.
Let's be that generation. Let's be the change we want to see. Let's push for what is right, for equality for our future offspring, for what we really care about and what we need out of life to survive.
Sometimes the phrase "fake it until you make it" can be the biggest booster in the world. That confidence will grow in time. Women who push just as hard as their men counterparts will stop being called "bitchy" or "overbearing."
Women will start to see they are just as capable as the men in their fields and just as necessary to make everything work well.
It starts with us, though; the people in college, those that are just getting into the workforce, the next generation. With the help of our faculty, we can learn to push harder.
As cliché as it is, we can change the world.
