Are Women Shortchanging Themselves?
‘Equal pay for equal work.” Anyone who is familiar with the fight for pay equity knows that expression. While the issue is not yet resolved, women have come a long way in the fight for pay parity with men.
But as more people start their own businesses, women have encountered a new gap. It seems that women, who have fought hard for pay equity, shortchange themselves when they launch their own businesses. Compared with men, they typically charge less and their businesses generate less revenue.
According to the 2004 CIBC Small Business Outlook Poll, “on average, revenues generated by women-run businesses are significantly lower than those seen in businesses operated by men.”
When it comes to setting rates, women charge less than men do for the same work or similar work “because many women tend to confuse business issues with personal issues,” said Gaelle Chevalier, sole proprietor of SciDocs Inc., an English-to-French medical and scientific editing and translation service based in Toronto.
Photo by Tory Zimmerman/The Globe and Mail.
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