Equality is not “theirs” to give, it is ours to take

Equality is not “theirs” to give, it is ours to take

How can we close the gap?

I am a year and a half away from retirement so my perspective comes from the end of a long career. I started my career working in the Defense Electronics Industry working for various companies that were later purchased by Lockheed. I had a top-secret security clearance, and was the only woman in the room at high level, multi-million dollar negotiations with companies like Raytheon, McDonnell Douglas, Northrop, Boeing and Texas Instruments. It was very much an old boys network and it was extremely difficult to break through the glass ceiling there. I could only do so by moving from company to company as being promoted from within was nearly impossible for a woman.?

I later opened a business with my partner and we raised our two children while both working from home. This was as the internet was in its infancy and databases had their own proprietary operating systems. We were at the forefront of merging various products on UNIX when computers were the size of refrigerators and the first personal computers started appearing in people’s homes.?

As my circumstances changed, and my parents health started to decline, I took time out of my career to be with my children and help my parents die with dignity. Those were by far the most difficult years.?

When I resumed my career, I entered the Dynamics community and have worked within it for the past sixteen years. I now own my own business and work exclusively under contract with eOne Solutions.?Prior to this I worked for two other ISV’s, a part of the Dynamics ecosystem that gets little recognition. All three companies I have been part of have had an equal balance of male and female employees, as well as a mixture of young and old employees, bringing great diversity to their teams. The biggest challenge ISV’s face in the Dynamics Community is the recognition of their importance:?how their products improve the Dynamics stack and enable partners to provide more technology and ease of use for their customers. ISV’s get little recognition or appreciation for the work they do in the community, for example sponsoring major industry events so we can all come together as a community to celebrate who we all are and what we have to offer.

My biggest concern for women in our industry is the issue of pay equity. On International Women’s Day I read this article on LinkedIn saying that it is not expected that we will reach gender parity by 2030. Why not??I believe that women have more power over this issue than we realize, and we all need to gain confidence to take it on for ourselves. You can change this today by asking one very simple, and incredibly important question at every salary discussion:

“Am I being paid the same, or more, than any individual who is doing this job now or has done it in the past?”?

If an employer responds with “no”, then ask what their legal justification is for paying you less and how soon they plan to remedy it.

I know this is easier said than done. But it is imperative that you do it. Change begins with you, not others on LinkedIn. By asking this question and requiring a legally justifiable response you are making a major impact towards rectifying this problem now. Not only for you but for the women who follow. Women are not trained to confidently speak out and declare our worth, while most men have no problem doing this.?It’s my strong belief?that the men in our industry are not trying to keep us down. Equality is not “theirs” to give, it is ours to take. Then we can work side by side knowing that we are all worthy.?