Yesterday, my SQLServerCentral.com editorial Why are we still talking about Women in Tech? was published, and we had a fine time all the day discussing the ins and outs of the question on the forum. One reader wrote me to express admiration of the article, but indifference to the subject, because there hadn’t been any hard numbers on the difference in pay between men and women in IT.
I’ve talked before (in the blog You Earn More Than I Do) about the differences in pay, and pondered the possible reasons behind the gap…but my reader was right: I haven’t posted any solid numbers. The problem is that I haven’t found definitive numbers on the wage gap for the technology sector, specifically. Here is what I have found:
This paper cites this figure: “College-educated women in male-dominated fields earn 76% of what college-educated men earn one year after graduation”. Women make up just under 25% of the computer populace, so I’d say that IT qualifies as a male-dominated field.
This one from Silicon.com discusses the situation in the UK. The math they give shows women at 62% pay compared to men.
This article on CNN has very optimistic news, though: “Women in technology-related fields, however, fared the best. “High-tech companies are much more gender-blind,” Spence said. That’s probably because technology is a newer field and more progressive, she said. Women computer programmers make 93% of what men in the same position make and on average earn $1,182 per week.”
But notice that most WIT articles we’ve been seeing in the SQL sphere lately – mine and others’ – aren’t about the wage gap (or at least, not exclusively). The disparity that can’t be argued is in the number of women in the field.
My message today: I’m all for fair wages, but I’m not necessarily seeing big wage gaps in my immediate circle. My focus is on opening this interesting, fun, well-paid field up to all the women and men who might enjoy it.
-Jen
One place where you won’t see a wage gap is in the US military. It’s completely dependent upon rank and years of service. Even the type of job you do doesn’t matter. There are adjustments for combat pay, for cost of living allowance depending on where in the world you’re stationed, but otherwise the pay is equal. And lousy.
I know, folks don’t sign up to serve to get rich, but it’s still pretty bad. So it’s one of those things that I look at and say, “We need to fix the pay gap, but be thankful for what you have.” I apply this not just to the wage gap, but also to folks who are making a good salary but feel that the company isn’t paying what they’re worth due to the region.
To put things in perspective, when I was serving as an officer in the USAF, I was a DBA and sysadmin with two four year degrees, three years of experience in the military and even more experience as a developer, and when our second child was born, we made just $40 too much to qualify for WIC. My airmen with 3 years active duty service, if they were married, qualified for food stamps.
There always will be some pay gaps inside a company, but it shouldn’t be consistently lower for one group, like women, blacks, Latinos, etc. The ranges should vary, as we’re all people and we should have a fairly random distribution of salaries across a group.
You have done some great research, and some wonderful writing on this.
Thanks, Jen.
Brian, That’s cool, I hadn’t thought about the military equality…
Steve, agreed. And thanks for your kind comments!
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