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Why Aren’t Women Making As Much Money as Their Male Counterparts? – Vol. 274, August 28, 2014
I was watching a webinar earlier this week when the host was explaining how very few people make between $100,000 a year and a million dollars a year. Though that wasn’t her main point really. Her main point was that when you look at the numbers, women seem to have a much lesser idea of what they can accomplish financially versus men. Here are the numbers as she quoted them on the webinar:
Yearly Income Men Women
$100,000/year 25% 12%
$500,000/year 8% 4%
$1,000.000/year 6% 1.8%
Look at the difference in the millionaires by gender. We go from about half in the $100,000 and $500,000 categories to less than a third of the men earning $1,000,000/year. What is up with that huge disparity in earnings on the million dollar level?
Some of the reasons this webinar leader came up with were:
Women tend to stay home and raise babies so they stop going up the ladder as quickly as their male counterparts.
Women are less likely to ask for raises when they earn them, not wanting to upset the situation that they are in.
Women don’t know how to negotiate their salaries as their male counter parts do when they accept a job, which will determine the total amount of money she will earn in that position.
Women tend to think that they aren’t worth as much as men do. (This in terms of their self-worth versus their male counter parts that are more willing to see their market value for the job they are doing.)
Male run businesses tend to pay women less for the same level of work as the statistics in the United States show. Women earn an average of 70% less than men do for comparable jobs.
When women own their own businesses, they tend to give away too much, finding it difficult to “sell” or just wanting to be “nice” which hurts their business’s “bottom line.”
What I would like to mention here is that if a woman is willing to do the work that a man is willing to do, and place her career above her family’s needs in many cases, then she ought to be paid an equal amount of money as her male counter part. We know that with more than a 50% divorce rate here in the United States, that many women are the main bread winners for their single family homes. So, the notion that men are taking care of the family is out of date. More often than not, the male is much better off after a divorce than his ex-wife because he has the better salary in most cases. Many also find ways to hide their real wealth, unwilling to pay alimony or child support if a way can be figured out not to do so.
I am quite aware of situations where the men are unable to have visitation with their children or where men are paying ridiculous sums to their ex-wives. However, the statistics that we have demonstrate that women are the ones who are most often much worse off after the breakup of a marriage.
When one takes into account that the cost of full-time child care for an infant in the United States in 2011 ranged from $4,591 in Mississippi to $20,178 in Washington, D.C., the subsidies that the federal government provides for those that are eligible are only a tiny fraction of the cost, taking up a substantial percentage of the mothers income. This is even more difficult if she happens to be one of the 63% of single mothers who falls under the poverty rate. This data comes from the report from the Luxembourg Income Study Center at the Graduate Center City University of New York called Worst Off – Single-Parent Families in the United State, A Cross-National Comparison of Single Parenthood in the US and Sixteen Other High-Income Countries.
How can we turn this mess around? I believe with the use of the internet giving us world wide reach with low cost or no cost advertising available, many more women can get into building their own businesses becoming in charge of their own income production. There are many great business coaches out there who have built many businesses and can help others to do the same. That is indeed why they are in business. Look at Lisa Sasivich, the Queen of Conversion, or Ali Brown, model turned business women, or Suzanne Evens, or Lisa Nichols or my favorite Loral Langemeier who teaches one how to create a cash machine in three days and then take that money and invest it to make even more. She is like the female version of Warren Buffet purchasing whole companies, keeping on the principles if they are turning a profit while, merely overseeing the operations of the companies she owns.
So, if you feel that it is impossible for you to get ahead of the bills or even better that you have a desire to earn $100,000+ a year in your own business, instead of being a pawn in some huge company – or even a smaller company that may be struggling and you haven’t any say in its operation, maybe you would like to crete some autonomy as a self-employed person who can sell world wide thanks to the beautiful thing known as the internet. Because when one really thinks about it, there are no promises in life. As Brian Tracy has been saying for decades now, “You are the CEO of your own business even if you are an employee.” He goes onto explain that It is your job to make yourself indispensable by taking on more projects and doing those little things others won’t do. In this fashion you may be able to earn a promotion in any job you may have.
So, think about how you can add to the number of females making over $100,000 per year with the knowledge that you already have. Get yourself a coach or a mentor to help you figure out what you need to do to be successful, because as great as the technology is with its world wide reach, it is forever changing making it mandatory for anyone working in this climate to get the support one needs to become successful in one’s own venture.
You really have little to lose especially if you have a job already and are merely looking to ease into creating your own business. This is always the best way to go about it so you can build up your business knowing that it will be able to support you.
One does need to have a stomach of ebbs and flows in the business they are building, though the excitement of trying out new things, knowing how much you can learn in the process of running your own business both in terms of the practical application of running the business and what you are made of in your effort to be a business person are for many the greatest reward in going this route.
I know from my own journey into being self-employed that it was much easier when I had a spouse helping to pay the household and living bills. However, even after being divorced and finding it at times, rather challenging to pay the bills as a one person head of the house, I could never go back to being employed. I know because I bit the bullet a few months ago and kept the job I found for exactly one month, unwilling to be frozen to the bone by the night manager – a 19 year old male, or being treated like a badly behaved child by a 26 year old female manager, so direct and angry in her interactions with some of the employees, that one would swear she wanted some of us to leave. I did so on my own accord realizing that the job wasn’t wroth the effort on any level. Once you have been self-employed and realize that this is your personality, being employed is a joke. Well, at least for those of us who never really fit in with the conventional world of employment.
For those of you who are self-directed, find something that is meaningful (fulfilling) to you to do for your work. If you are willing, this is the best of all worlds. Every day is an adventure never knowing what it is going to bring.
However, if you are the sort who needs to believe that having a job means that you have a regular paycheck which equals security in your mind, then I suggest you find yourself a well enough paying job and negotiate hard before they hire you to have the greatest advantage, as the majority of your male colleagues do. At least you will have a better reason for being employed at that place of business.
Learnings From My Journey: Suzannisms For the Mind and Soul
Learnings From My Journey: Suzannisms for the Mind and Soul is a book of essays based on the wisdom gained through those who have touched me through my own journey in life. Purchase an inspiring copy today from the Dawning Visions Hypnosis Store.
Learnings From My Journey: Suzannisms For the Mind and Soul
About Suzanne
Suzanne Kellner-Zinck founded Dawning Visions Hypnosis in 2002, She has become an innovator in the use of hypnotism and neuro-linguistic programming in the areas of obsessive compulsive disorders such as: eating disorders, sexual addiction and substance abuse as well as working with those with anxiety and mood disorders.
Her clients have come to work with her from across the United States and as far away as Africa to help them to finally be freed from these emotional issues that once ruled their lives. Today she is in the process of bringing her work to many more in the form of ebooks and other downloadable formats.
She is a member of American Holistic Medical Association and the American College for Advancement in Medicine.
Prior to founding Dawning Visions Hypnosis, Kellner-Zinck worked within vendor programs for the mentally ill working to help them to live up to their fullest potential. Many of her previous clients were able to move out on their own and find fulfilling work.
Kellner-Zinck is a Certified Trainer of Hypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic programing through Tad James Company, Inc. and a Master Hypnotist and Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming through Advanced Neuro Dynamics. She holds a bachelor’s degree in education and political studies from Curry College.
Dawning Visions Hypnosis is teaching people that they can indeed leave their unwanted behaviors behind as they move forward to living fulfilling and joy filled lives.