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KU women gather to work against pay gap
▶ DARBY VANHOUTAN
@darbyvanhoutan
An event hosted Tuesday evening brought women at the University from varying backgrounds together to discuss one unifying topic—the salary differences between men and women. More than that, the event provided knowledge to women on negotiating future salaries in an attempt to close that gap.
"Closing the Gap: Salary Negotiation Skills for Women" was held in The Commons in Spooner Hall on Tuesday, April 4. The panel consisted of Kelly Tyler Burns, Rita Holmes-Bobo, Julie Berkhart, Olivia Jenski and Aramis Watson.
"Closing the Gap: Salary Negotiation Skills for Women was hosted by the Emily Taylor Center for Women and Gender Equity, as well as the KU Career Services Alliance, which is made up of three different University career centers. According to the event's planners, the discussion had the main goals of educating, equipping and motivating women.
Rhiannon Racy, assistant director of the University Career Center, said she hoped the event not only informed those in attendance on the numbers surrounding this issue, but more importantly to her, provided individuals with tools to negotiate their future salaries.
provided tips to attendees on how to responsibly negotiate their own.
"We felt like this was an area that we could really connect with a lot of folks and really help support women of all different backgrounds and identities, and really try to help encourage confidence as well as provide some practical skills that women can take with them after they graduate," Racy said.
The almost two-hourlong event consisted of a panel of five women who discussed the history with their own salaries, as well as
Members of the panel included: Olivia Jensik, who works for management consulting at RSM consulting firm; Julie Berkhart, talent acquisition manager for the University's Human Resources; Aramis Watson, associate director of residence life for Student Housing; Rita Holmes-Bobo, president of Niles Home for Children and Kelly Tyler Burns, who works for culture and employee management at Voyage Consulting.
During the discussion, members of the panel focused primarily on simple tips women can use when discussing pay with employers. Each panel member provided examples from their own experiences of salary discussions with their higher-ups.
was an area that we could really connect with a lot of folks and really help support women of all different backgrounds and identities, "
Rhiannon Racy University Career Center assistant director
These tips included not negotiating pay until after a job has been offered, keeping track of praise you receive during employment to leverage yourself for a promotion
and also taking into consideration negotiating not only salary but things such as sick leave and signing bonuses.
Provost Neeli Bendapudi was also in attendance at the event, kicking off the panel with a jarring statistic. If the current gap between men and women's salaries continues to close the current rate it's at, it will take over 120 years before men and women receive the same pay, Bendapudi said. She hopes that discussions like these will help to shorten that life span.
"This is a very important topic because if you do nothing, if you don't participate
in things like this, all of us are going to be gone by the time we see some change, and that's not acceptable," Bendapudi said during the event.
The event, which was held at Spooner Hall Commons, drew a crowd of around 25 women.
Aoesta Mohammed, a Ph.D. student and graduate teaching assistant from Sulaimani, Kurdistan, said that she was not prepared, after leaving a country she said treats women much differently than men, to see issues of inequality in the United States, including salary discrepancies. She attended the
event first and foremost, she said, to get educated on the topic.
"I'm here to listen and learn all the principles of those differences and how we can fix that," Mohammed said.
Mohammed, who recently applied to a new job, said she hopes that the knowledge provided by the women on the panel will assist in the inevitable conversations she will need to have with desired employers.
"I want to have an idea of how I'm going to negotiate with them," Mohammed said. "I don't want to get less than, because my work ethic
and my skill set aren't less than my male colleague."
Priscilla Flores, a freshman from Dodge City, said she is fairly new to the job market but understands the wage and gender issues surrounding her major, chemical engineering, and attended the event in an attempt to become more prepared for decisions regarding her pay in the future.
"I know that with female engineers, if you let people walk all over you, they're going to do it," Flores said. "I really want to learn how to be ahead and show people what my worth is without being overbearing about it."
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