The #WomenEd Gender Pay Gap Campaign

What is the Gender Pay Gap?

Gender pay gaps (GPG) are measured in different ways globally. However, on all counts, most men earn more than a woman doing the same or similar work.

Worldwide, women only make 77 cents for every dollar earned by men.

As a result, there’s a lifetime of income inequality between men and women and more women are retiring into poverty.

Women dominate the workforce in education, yet a pay gap exists in those countries that measure this.

What Leading Women are Saying

"Imagine you're a little girl. You're growing up. You practice as hard as you can, with girls, with boys. You have a dream. You fight, you work, you sacrifice to get to this stage. You work as hard as anyone you know. And then you get to this stage, and you're told you're not the same as a boy. Almost as good, but not quite the same. Think how devastating and demoralizing that could be."

Tennis Champion Venus Williams quoted in Huffington Post

"What are you telling your daughter when she grows up? 'You've got to just understand that you're a girl. You have a vagina. So that's not as valuable.'"

Actress Viola Davis, in a 2016 interview with Mashable

"If you fix the pay gap, you would lift three million women out of poverty in the US and you would cut the child poverty rate in half."

Tech Exec Sheryl Sandberg, in The Financial Times

"Often, when a Japanese woman who is talented and capable is offered a promotion, she rejects it, because she doesn’t have the confidence early on in her career and questions what will happen if she gets married or pregnant...After that first rejection, management usually just accepts it and moves on to the next candidate. So what I encourage management to do is not give up after the first try, to ask again and ask in a different way.”

Kathy Matsui, Vice-chair and chief Japan strategist, Goldman Sachs, Japan, quoted in The Financial Times

"When pay gets out of kilter between men and women, it can be corrected if it’s dealt with early. But if it’s allowed to fester for years it can become very wide, and then it becomes very difficult for the employer to acknowledge that there wasn’t a good reason for it."

Journalist Carrie Gracie, quoted in The Financial Times

"I get more and more angry every year because this pernicious inequality is not improving fast enough." Vivienne Porritt, quoted in her annual Gender Pay Gap Blog

Our Goals

Advocate for Reduction of the Gender Pay Gap

Furnish Women with the Necessary Tools to Negotiate Fair Pay

Our Achievements

Blogged about this

Called on employers to remove the question on current salary from application forms and also references

Contributed to a UK Gender Pay Gap Analysis Report

Contributed to an article in Forbes

Written a chapter in 10%Braver: Inspiring Women to Lead Education

Run several workshops/webinars on negotiation skills

Held a panel discussion at our global unconference

Added issue to Senior Leaders Masters / Apprenticeship curriculum with The National College of Education (England)

Our Impact

"I became aware of WomenEd recently through The National College of Education when I listened to a podcast with Nick Heard and Vivienne Porritt from WomenEd. I am so grateful for your inspirational podcast in which, for the first time in my life, my eyes were opened to the #GenderPayGap in education. As a result of this, during a recent interview process, through which I secured my first headship, I found the courage to negotiate my salary with my new employees, who, very boldly, agreed to salary-match my pay to the current head.

Without a doubt, unless I'd had the opportunity to engage with WomenEd and hear your powerful message, I would not have thought to challenge the system."

Nicola Forder, Head Teacher, Bristol Steiner School
‘I am delighted to say that SENDAT has removed the Current/Previous salary question from our application form. We see this as a positive step to reducing the #GenderPayGap in our organisation and assuring applicants that we offer equitable processes when recruiting. We will advertise our practice as a strength of our Trust. Thanks for making me look at this and inspiring the change for our 3 schools and our entire organisation at all levels of appointment.’

Sue Prickett, Chief Finance and Operations Officer, SENDAT
@ruralSBM This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
‘I have followed WomenEd on Twitter for quite some time, as I enjoy reading tweets by women describing how they became 10%braver. I never really thought that I, too, would be reaching out one day to seek advice.

I was recently appointed head-elect in an independent school. The thought of negotiating a contract filled me with dread, and I almost signed the initial agreement to avoid having to enter any negotiations at all. After support from Vivienne Porritt and WomenEd, I negotiated further taxable benefits equating to more than 60% of my initial package. My 'aim high’ goal was met and it forced my employer to be transparent regarding gendered salaries in the organisation. Vivienne reminded me that I was negotiating for all the aspiring women leaders behind me. That was what made me go for it!’

Anonymous