Poor us. We women are being told we aren’t getting equal pay, and now we’re apparently lagging in confidence. The Atlantic recently published “The Confidence Gap,” saying we not only lack confidence, but it’s an “acute lack of confidence.” We “feel like an imposter” as we do our jobs, we can’t bring ourselves to ask for a raise, we are forever underestimating ourselves.
As my incredibly confident mother would say, “Horse feathers.”
Who are these women? Where are these women? The women I know were raised by confident women, had confident women that taught them, had confident aunts and grandmothers and godmothers who nurtured them. We read Anne of Green Gables and Little House on the Prairie, we studied about Marie Curie and Sally Ride, watched Mia Hamm and Chrissy Evert.
Amy Otto at The Federalist has some suggestions for these poor ladies who’ve lost their confidence. Fear not, Otto says, you can handle things.
Look for another job if you think your worth is not recognized. The best way to negotiate your salary is to have multiple options. The best way to have multiple job offers is real economic growth. The only way to generate real economic growth is from private sector innovation. The aims of progressive policy replace growth with relegating ourselves to redistributing the inventions of the past thereby eliminating the incentive to invent the future. That is not the act of a confident woman or nation.
Apply critical thinking before buying into cooked up statistics that appear to be aimed at driving an emotional response instead of a logical one. Don’t let the false premise of the wage gap make you feel suddenly insecure. Ask yourself: Who gains by women remaining perpetually concerned that they can not get ahead on their own? It certainly isn’t you. It’s not hard to have a conversation with your boss to determine where you sit and why in your job’s wage band. There is no need for legislation that will make it more likely employers will move to “equal” salaries instead of performance based ones because of the cost of potential lawsuits. Do you really want to work in a world where everyone is paid the same as the worst employee? “I don’t want to be paid the same as a poor-performing male. I’m confident I deserve to make more.”
Otto’s final suggestion? Don’t settle for equality, she says. Aim higher.
If you’re one of those ladies lacking a bit of confidence, or know someone who is, take it from one of the best female pop singers ever and the Queen of Soul: Sisters Are Doin’ For Themselves. Enjoy.
