Republicans are notorious for their opposition to support equal pay for women. For years, they’ve actively rejected equal pay bills and argued that men make more than women because they are the primary breadwinners in their families (not true). In March, Donald Trump actually revoked the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces order that President Obama signed in 2014, which in part included paycheck transparency—one way to ensure that federal contractors were paying their female employees equally to their male counterparts.
Though Republicans continue to bury their heads in the sand and remain in denial about this, pay equity remains a huge problem for women in the workplace all over the country. This is the case for women at Google as well—as more than 60 women at the company consider suing for sexism and pay disparities.
James Finberg, the civil rights attorney working on the possible legal action on behalf of the female employees, told the Guardian they contend they have earned less than men at Google despite equal qualifications and comparable positions.
Others, he said, have struggled in other ways to advance their careers at Google due to a “culture that is hostile to women”.
Silicon Valley is notorious for being a terrible place for women to work. This year Uber made headlines after a large-scale investigation led by former attorney general Eric Holder uncovered a culture rife with sexual harassment, discrimination and unprofessional behavior. This resulted in more than 20 employees being fired and Uber’s CEO Travis Kalanick stepping down. Google’s potential lawsuit comes amid a recently leaked document in which a male software engineer critiqued the company’s affirmative action programs—saying that the reason women are in lesser positions of leadership in the tech industry is not because of discrimination but because of “biological differences.”
Google is vehemently denying that its salaries are discriminatory. However Finberg, who said he had interviewed around half of the 60 women who may be part of his lawsuit, said their testimony indicated there are clear disparities and prejudices that hurt women at the Mountain View company. [...]
Several women he interviewed have said they make around $40,000 less than male colleagues doing the same work, with one woman saying she makes two-thirds of a male peer’s salary.
Being a woman in the workforce comes with tangible consequences—particularly in a male-dominated industry. Not only do women have to deal with sexism and harassment, but when decisions are made about pay and value for work, studies show that both men and women routinely devalue work done by women, especially in areas traditionally considered male. Even when we consciously hold the belief that women and men should earn equal pay for equal work, research dictates that our subconscious leads us to act differently.
Finberg argued that when men get higher compensation in the form of base salary and stocks “the big initial disparity turns into a larger and larger disparity every year”.
“I felt like I wasn’t playing the game in the ‘boys club’ environment,” said another woman who worked for two years as a user experience designer and recently left Google. She said she regularly dealt with sexist remarks, such as comments about her looks, and that she felt it was discriminatory when she was denied a promotion despite her achievements and large workload.
Sexism and pay disparity in the workplace can be difficult to prove, especially because it can be based in unconscious social and cultural norms and structures that we cannot fully control. And remember that they impact women differently, as white women are paid more than women of color—even though white women make less than white men. The importance of eliminating the wage gap cannot be understated. Republicans are wrong when they claim that women are not the breadwinners of their families. Many women are, in fact, the breadwinners or sole earner in their families and this is quite true of women of color. But even still, a woman’s income has a direct impact on her well-being, life opportunities and that of her family. If this case goes to court and these 60 women win, it could have a huge impact on pay practices in the technology sector and set the standard for other industries in the future.