A Seat At Her Table

I'm thinking about tables. My niece Georgia Woman--nearly two years out of college--is impatient with workplace inequity. Recently, she honed in on what she already knew: For comparable jobs, men make more money than women and men dominate leadership positions and management teams. Women wait to be judged as qualified to sit at the table, rather than nosing out a spot for themselves--asked or not and ready or not. Fed up, Georgia Woman is building her own table. With her blog entry http://connectyourmeetings.com/2013/04/03/a-seat-at-the-table/ construction is underway.

Georgia Woman works in the leisure and hospitality industry, where women fare somewhat better than average. They earn 83.5 cents on the dollar compared to men. That means if a man earns $50,000, a woman earns $41,750. If they each qualify for an end-of-year 15% bonus, the man receives $1,238 more than the woman in holiday cheer. Or consider more grimly, if both pay for a 3Xsalary death benefit and die together, the man's survivors receive nearly $25,000 more in compensation. There is an unfairness in the numbers that women work by every day.

To voice the inequity in pay is like shining a flashlight on the underside of a flipped-over a rock. What other lopsided decisions do women live by and who makes those decisions--not to mention, who benefits. Men, even with their extra pay, may not be the problem. We have to consider the silence of women.  It is past time to speak up for what we believe at work, at home and in our religion. We have to push ourselves to lead even when we aren't sure where we are going and/or know that our views aren't liked.

I wonder about the form Georgia Woman intends to give her table. Sometimes a table needs to be round for listening; other times it needs a head clearly marked for where the  leader sits. Once she builds her table, will Georgia Woman remember that each surface dent and scratch represents a risk taken? As a fledgling in her industry, Georgia Woman has grabbed a leadership position beyond her years. Many will applaud her. And I predict that many--including me--will want a seat at her table. This woman can lead.