Women Are Sharing How They Found Out They Were Underpaid At Work, And I'm Ready To Call HR
In case you didn't know, the gender pay gap refers to how women are often paid less than men for the same amount work (or, oftentimes, more work). And although we've been talking about it for years, it hasn't really gotten any better!
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According to a 2021 report from Pew Research Center, the gender pay gap in the US has remained stable for the past 15 years. In 2020, women on average earned only 84% of what men earned, which means, "it would take an extra 42 days of work for women to earn what men did in 2020."
Showtime
So, in the spirit of transparency, we asked the women of the BuzzFeed Community to share their stories of being seriously underpaid compared to their male coworkers. Here are their responses:
1."I was a general manager at a bakery chain. At the time, I had seven years with the company, and five in my current position. I was tasked with running a second location while training the new general manager of the second store. This guy was brand new to the company, and didn't have relevant management experience. After some time, salaries were brought up and it came out that he was making $10k more than me."
"I was rather upset, and went to my district and regional managers asking for for my pay to be adjusted fairly. The regional manager — a woman — basically told me that the only way to get a raise was to be promoted, and I got a slap on the wrist for discussing salaries. I'm no longer with that company."
2."For approximately the first three years of being a senior marketing manager in a corporate environment, the two men who worked under me made twice as much as I did. It almost broke me. It took me a while, but I now make three times what I used to make, and truly enjoy my job. It was never just about the money, it was the perception of my worth while doing more."
CTV
3."I work in a role where I know what everyone makes. Part of the job is not letting this bother me. However, there's one instance that didn't happen to me, it happened to a colleague. She had over 20 years of experience in her field and put in around 60 hours a week, always staying late. She was extremely knowledgeable and competent. When I saw what she made per year, my jaw dropped. I went through and looked at her male counterparts, who did 50%, if not less, of what she did daily, and I wanted to barf. In some cases, over $40k more a year, with less experience and doing less work."
"I pushed to get her a raise, and she got a measly amount. To add insult to injury, there was a director position that she was more than qualified for, that was never offered to her. Instead, they gave it to a male coworker who had 'some online training,' and worked in an unrelated field. I can't believe she didn't snap. I couldn't get it out of my head for months."
—Anonymous
4."I was brought on to an HR team at $12/hr. One of my responsibilities involved handling personnel files, and I found out that the man training me, who had the same level of experience and education as I did, started at and was currently making $17/hr."
"The thing that really got me beyond that was that this guy's behavior was unbelievable. He claimed that he and a group of people from his church had been granted visions of the future, and they taped every session they had. This man ran around randomly forcing tapes of personalized sessions on people. I made the mistake of playing the tape he gave me once, and I cannot begin to explain how creepy it all was. Nobody liked him. He freaked everyone out, and nobody liked his work performance either. Yet, after all that, the all-male bosses wanted to give him a $3/hr raise. Me? I was told that, even though my work was praised, there was just no money for me."
Lifetime
5."When I brought up that my male counterparts (whom I trained) were getting paid more than me, I was told that they needed the money more because they were the 'bread winners' of their families. Wonder if it would've been different if I were a parent raising kids on my own?! That wouldn't have made a difference. I'm so sick of women getting the short end of the stick."
6."I'm a woman working in the construction industry. I was in a very toxic workplace and looking to get out. A male college friend of mine told me about an opening at the construction company he was working at, and I jumped at the opportunity. After rounds of interviews, I was offered the job. I was initially offered $56k, but negotiated it up to $58k. The man who offered me the job (my boss) told me he couldn't go any higher than that, and it was the absolute best he could do. I accepted and began working. It was clear, right away, that my work performance was above and beyond that of my college friend, who'd been there for about six months. When it came time to bonuses, my college friend asked me how much I got and I told him about $2,500. He had only received $2,000."
"He then asked me how much my salary was, to see if it was a percentage of our salary, and after I told him, he went on to tell me that he was offered $65k from the very beginning. He also told me that another male colleague was also making the same amount. I was so upset about the pay discrepancy, as I was told my salary was the 'absolute highest' they could go. I walked straight into my boss’s office and told him I was aware of the salary differences and that he had to increase my salary by $10k. He did. The money was clearly there, but they had to get caught to make my salary correct."
FOX
7."I'd been working at a specialty retail store for over a year and a half when they hired someone new for my department, specifically as an assistant to me. When his first paycheck came, he had a question and showed me his pay stub, which revealed that he was being paid a dollar more an hour at his starting probationary wage than I was. It was my first full time job, so I was more upset than angry, but the HR rep certainly looked…concerned when I went in to talk to her and she realized that I was aware of the discrepancy. I ended up coming out of it with a significant raise, but it should've been the first warning sign to me that the whole store was a very old-school boys’ club."
8."I'd been with my company for over 14 years, and had spent over 8 in a highly specialized senior position. Despite excellent performance reviews and taking on multiple informal mentoring responsibilities, I was making 15% less than my male colleagues who only had 2–4 more years of experience. When I asked my supervisor for a raise to bring my salary more in line with theirs, I was told that management couldn't do anything about where I fell on the pay scale because salaries were determined by length of time in the position. They also said I shouldn't 'make waves' because I didn't want to 'become a problem' for upper management."
"The final straw was when a male coworker who was a new hire a year *after* I started my senior position got promoted to a position at the same level, and immediately started earning the same salary I was. When I raised it with my supervisor, I was told that they were 'equalizing salaries' and I shouldn't complain because I'd gotten a raise too (mine worked out to 1%). I left not long after."
—Anonymous
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9."I worked in mental health at an in-patient psychiatric facility. I began as an intern and quickly was hired as a crisis counselor for case management. It wasn't required to have a bachelor's degree for my position, so I was technically overqualified, and was promised (upon completing my master's degree) that I'd receive a pay raise. In the process of working there, I trained two men who technically did not meet the job requirements (neither had training or education) and had about 1/3 of the caseload I did. I was paid less than them both."
"I created a training manual for new hires because not even corporate or the administrator knew how to do my job. The raise never came and even though I had a perfect review, I was told there was no room for pay raises. The two men I trained both received pay raises and additional sick time and I was still doing the job of 3 people. Once the pandemic hit and I saw how much more of a shit show that place could be, I took it as a sign to get out before the ship sunk."
10."I graduated as a civil engineer from one of the best ranked universities in the country, and after interviewing with a couple of companies, I ended up accepting a position with the same firm I'd interned with for a year at a different location. During my internship, I had rave reviews and definitely took on work above the scope of my job description. When I was hired, I tried to negotiate salary but was told that wasn’t an option."
"Cut to the job: My (male) coworker and I were cube mates, and we got along great! But, he was hired out of college with no experience, and really struggled with the work. I spent a significant amount of time teaching him various design tasks. After I left the company, I realized I was underpaid by at least $10,000, though probably closer to $15,000. And, when I (finally) asked my former coworker how much he started at, it was $2,000 more than me! Even though I liked the work/projects at that company, I would never go back. The whole thing left such a sour taste in my mouth."
—Anonymous
VH1
11."I was working at a digital agency and when their two senior guys left, I become their sole designer for about a year. I carried the whole damn company, helped design concepts, and compiled winning pitch decks, all while keeping existing clients super happy and negotiating extensions to retainer agreements. I negotiated a salary bump for all of this, but they met me in the middle and promised a review again in six months. I had four years of digital experience by then. Color me surprised when they hired a print designer with less industry experience and zero digital specific experience, who I then had to train up…only to learn that his salary was $25k more than mine — AFTER my pay bump. I quit a week later and took their biggest client with me."
—Anonymous
12."Where I used to work, there was a man who used to take three or four smoking/coffee breaks, take a one hour lunch break, and leave around 2 p.m. He had a lot less to do than the rest of us — somewhere around half the workload if compared to the other team members. He made TWICE as much as our same-level, same-years-of-experience female coworker who usually worked from 10 a.m. to 7 or 8 p.m., sometimes later. He also made four times as much as me, and even though I'm at a lower career level, I still did a whole lot more than him and worked longer hours, so that wage gap is inexplicable. I've since been laid off because they had a financial crisis, but guess who's still there? And according to my former coworkers, he now works even less than before and still makes the same salary."
—Anonymous
13.I’m a renal dietitian. A male counterpart doing the same job in the same facility quit. My boss asked him to come back. He agreed, if they gave him a $10/hr raise, which he got. I got a great review and asked for equal compensation. They said 3% ($0.90) was all they could offer. I accused them of gender discrimination. All of the sudden, my male counterpart had a new title and was 'on another level' than me."
CBC
14."I worked at a small construction office a few years ago and was hired to manage the office. I was working eight hours a day, coordinating appointments, paying bills, and generally keeping the wheels from falling off. The boss' son made nearly DOUBLE my working rate because he was a 'project manager.' He picked up materials and took them to jobs and would put together budgets for clients, but mostly he sat in his office scrolling through Facebook, Tinder, and planning trips to Vegas and all while on company time. Ugh."
—Anonymous
15."I was on a digital team for a group of radio stations. I was in charge of the websites and social media for six stations in two separate markets. I later found out that a male coworker, who was in charge one station in one market, was making over $30,000 more than I was."
VH1
16."My then-husband saw a job listing online that he thought would be perfect for me, but pay wasn't listed. So, he emailed the manager to ask how much it paid. He received an answer and thought it would work, so he told me about it and I applied. I sent in my resume and received no answer. This was weird, because I had a decade of very impressive experience in the field. I sent my resume again, no response. Then, I started calling and emailing the place, and they finally set up an interview. I was offered the job at 20% less pay than my husband had been quoted as some random dude off the street with zero experience. I had to 'negotiate' to get to the baseline pay for a man with no experience. I was told by a coworker within the first week that they try to not hire women."
17.And finally, "I work for a popular supermarket chain in the UK. I moved to a store in Oxford as a promotion of sorts. I came from a smaller store, and I was offered a £500 pay raise to move stores, which I took. My (now) husband moved from the same smaller store to the same store in Oxford, from the same role I had to the same role I took. He was offered a £5,500 pay raise. If that’s not an example of the gender pay gap, I don’t know what is."
—Anonymous
Do you have any stories like these to share? Sound off in the comments so we can work together to finally end the gender pay gap once and for all.
Responses have been edited for length/clarity.
