The WAGE Project

Kudos to several of my blog readers who shared this amazing resource! The WAGE Project http://www.wageproject.org (WAGE stands for Women Are Getting Even) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to end the gender wage gap by teaching women across America how to negotiate. It is a great program that is typically targeted to Women’s Centers on university campuses but they also partner with professional women’s organizations to train those already in the workforce.

WAGE offers training designed specifically for women to teach them about the gender wage gap and the skills needed to negotiate. The goal is to empower women with negotiating skills in a safe and comfortable environment. The WAGE Project has compiled a list of advocacy, research, and legal services organizations that support efforts to achieve equality for women in the workplace. They teach women about their legal options, sexual discrimination settlements, and provide hotline resources around the country for employment counseling on topics like family leave, pregnancy discrimination, sexual harassment and unequal pay. Another great WAGE website resource is a salary calculator to help women determine what they are worth in a given field and geographic location.

The WAGE Project depends on individual contributions to build their campaign to close the wage gap by expanding the base of information on sex discrimination at work, collecting stories, cases and articles, increasing traffic to the WAGE website, and providing information and training for working women who want to be paid what they’re worth. You can make a tax deductible contribution to support this 501c3 organization via their website.

The website features stories from working women who have experienced salary discrimination. One woman shared a story about the birth of her children that gave me pause.

“When both my children were born, two people gave them money: the amount my son received from each person was about 40% more than the amount my daughter received. The financial gap starts from birth.” Working Woman

Over her working life, a woman will earn $1 million less than a man simply because she is a woman. Please share this amazing resource with every woman you know so this doesn’t happen to you…or your daughter… or your mother. Raising awareness is a crucial step in eliminating the gender gap for every woman in America. If we empower women with negotiating skills we can make great strides towards ending unequal pay in the workforce. Cheers to the WAGE Project for leading the charge!