Fantasies Women Have About the Workforce Which Keep Them Underemployed

The door has been unlocked. There are more women than ever in high-paying jobs. Yet most working women, even those in management, are clustered into predominately female jobs and career paths. These women are almost always lower-paid than men and women who work in male-dominated positions. Whether we like it or not, if we want to earn more money, the most assured way is to do the jobs which pay more. You are much more prepared to do this than you may think. If we want to jump the tracks, we need to recognize and discard those attitudes which are in our way.
Fantasy: Women in those high-paying jobs have something I don¹t have. I believe there are three reasons why most women do not pursue positions which they know to be higher-paying. They believe they lack sufficient ambition. They see the sacrifices as too great. They view themselves as unqualified. Let¹s look at these, one at a time.

Ambition. Some people would have you analyze your feelings about ambition until they are completely resolved. Women are more likely to want this, we like to have everything determined and feel "comfortable" with a certain behavior before we begin. You will probably retire before you can accomplish it. Try to simply put these bad feelings and all thoughts of ambition out of your mind. Ambition is a vague concept, defined by different people in various ways. You work for many reasons, and one of them is money. If you had enough ambition to get out of bed this morning, you have enough to pursue a new career.

Sacrifice. You see women anchoring the news, selling cars, and developing new software products. If you¹re like many of us, you may see these positions as requiring more sacrifice than your current job. You may believe that these women will pay any price to climb further and earn more. The fact is, different jobs require different kinds of sacrifices. Yes, there are high-stress jobs which require long hours and travel. But many, many jobs which pay more than yours require far less sacrifice than you imagine. I am constantly amazed at the sacrifices women are willing to make in long hours, extra work, harassment and belittling treatment, when their paychecks hardly warrant any sacrifice. Be realistic, but don¹t count yourself out of a new career just because you have other priorities in your life. Everyone does.

Qualifications. The issue of whether or not you are qualified for a different career path is probably more simple, and at the same time, more complex, than you thought. The word "qualify" has been overused and abused in the workplace. In fact, it remains undefined and means different things to different people, even when they are talking about the same position. Women are much more likely to consider "qualified" to mean technically competent. We believe specific training and direct prior experience in that exact kind of position is necessary. In fact, the position may require someone who is politically savvy, and is able to bring a new prospective to the job.

In 1977, Betty Harragan (Games mother Never Taught You, Warner Books,Inc.)quoted from a study in which men and women were asked how many of the appropriate job skills they would need to have in order to "qualify" for a job. The women responded that they would need all of the skills in order to qualify for the job. Men, on the other hand, believed they needed an average of 40% of those skills. Personally, I think this study would have the same results if done today. You can probably think of some 40%¹ers who got the job. If one person considers himself qualified with far fewer skills than another, he will automatically feel more confident and appear more confident. Well-paid women have learned to live with this. They have recognized that if they wait to feel 100% qualified, they¹ll miss their chance entirely. So will we. Change your view of competency from perfection at all times to excellence in the context of the job. Make your demands on yourself more realistic, and you will start to consider yourself for different opportunities.

It is important to remember that all the highly-paid men and women you know have learned what they know about the workplace, it wasn¹t inherited. They are only people doing their jobs. We don¹t have to be perfect at business, we just have to be better. With a few adjustments, we can make an enormous difference in our incomes.