Ann's Blog

Equal Pay Day… Extended!

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Yesterday was Equal Pay Day, an event started by the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) in 1996 and meant to recognize the gender wage gap—that fact that women make about 77 cents for every dollar men make for the same work. The event is cleverly fixed to always be on a Tuesday, to represent the six-day week that women would have to work to catch up to men.

Back in the 70s, women used to wear pin-on buttons that said simply “59¢” in recognition of the pay gap. And while pin-on buttons may have been replaced by new accessories, the gap itself hasn’t really changed that much: 18 cents in more than twice as many years.

But just like buttons have given way to Tweets and Facebook posts as a way to share your passions, the ways people are trying to correct the gender wage gap have changed too. GetRaised.com, a web service that shows people whether or not they are underpaid, and provides them with the tools to do something about it, is working to address the wage gap not through legislation or activism, but by empowering women directly.

The website itself is fairly simple on the surface. You tell the system a little about what you do, where you do it and how much you make and GetRaised will show you whether you’re underpaid. If you are, the system guides you through the process of answering simple questions to create a custom Raise Request, a document designed to lay out a logical business case for your pay review. You hand it to your boss, and Getraised will help guide you through the raise process with tips on everything from appropriate professional attire to scheduling your raise talk

And the results of the process are astounding: Of the women who have used GetRaised so far, over 70% have earned one, with an average raise of over $6,500.

Normally, the service charges $20 (cheap, when you think about the size of an average raise) to put together your raise strategy. And if you don’t get a raise, they simply refund your money. But in honor of Equal Pay Day, GetRaised is absolutely, entirely free for everyone that joins today (Wednesday, April 13, from 12:00 a.m. EST to 11:59 p.m. EST). Why?

Says Lead Scientist Matt Wallaert, “If yesterday was about recognizing that you are underpaid, let’s make today a time to do something about it.”

So if you think you’re underpaid, find out for sure. And then go get the right raise!