On June 15 th , Dallas SWE hosted its final Professional Development Event for FY22 at La Madeline in Plano. FY23 President, Rana Karimi, presented on the topic of Women and Negotiation.
Rana began the presentation by setting the stage on the current gender wage gap. The current gender wage gap is largely drive by the occupational segregation, which is the separation of job by gender. Women are more commonly in lower paying fields than men, which contributes greatly to the current gap in median wages for men and women. The more women we can promote in typically male-dominated, higher paying fields, the faster we can close in on this gap. Similarly, the more girls we can influence to learn about and pursue STEM will also help in closing that gap. Since we are all professional engineers already, the next best thing we can do is advocate for ourselves more, negotiate our pay, and spread awareness about doing so.
We also discussed common fears when it comes to negotiating, such as negotiating your starting pay, knowing when biases or cultural or gender expectations might be holding you back, and not getting bogged down by rejection. These anecdotes allowed members to open up and share similar experience of their own when negotiating. We learned that we are not alone in experiencing many of these challenges and how greater awareness can help us to advocate more effectively for ourselves.
Finally, the presentation focused on strategies for how we can develop a competitive negotiation plan. We discussed a 5-step process that was adapted from traditional Sourcing methodology on how to tactically approach your next negotiation from a data-driven and well-researched background. These steps are rooted in defining what is of value to you and knowing how to define, measure, and maximize that value during your negotiation. We also discussed how to advocate for yourself when you are already in an organization and looking for a promotion or challenge opportunity. The five steps to the process are:
- Research
- Define value
- Evaluate
- Identify levers
- Engage
The biggest takeaway of the session is that we can all take action to help address the gender wage gap. Action might include negotiating when required, but it also includes spreading awareness to our women co-workers, daughters, sisters, girlfriends, and other women. The more we can normalize the act of women as negotiators, the more common it will be and more we can take down gender norms.
Dallas SWE would like to recognize our Professional Development Committee Leaders, comprised of Katia Gomez and Gretchen Landego, and Dallas SWE Secretary Sammy Zellner, for the support in coordinating and delivering this event. We look forward to more impactful Professional Development events in FY23!
