Some actually useful info for Women's Day
Money lessons, respecting what women like, and learning that IWD is performative as heck.
Welcome to another edition of (I can only hope) your favourite newsletter! 👋🏽 This one has a lot of links so your inbox might crop it — please read till the end because it’s an important issue.
All of today, my phone and socials have been buzzing with Women's Day discounts, deals, and the occasional good-natured but empty wish.
But the only Women's Day tweets I appreciated and which made me smile (and straight-up laugh out loud) were the ones by @PayGapApp.
This is a bot that's been retweeting all these hoity-toity brand posts about Women's Day with the difference in pay for men vs women. This company pays women less than half of what they pay their male employees. How absolutely disgusting.
From London Business School to Barclays to my very own alma mater (University of Exeter) — not a single brand/company has remained unscathed.
Do you know what most of the brands did after being called out?
They blocked the bot. They deleted their tweets and reposted them without the hashtag #BreakTheBias. How ironic.
Cause suddenly we're gonna buy that they're sharing the life story and inspiring journey of the one token Black or WOC on a random Tuesday? Yeah right.
Those who couldn't find some colour in their team have picked up their most qualified (but probably still underpaid) female team member to pose with chocolate boxes and make an X to "break the bias".
But there's a reason I love Twitter. People don't miss a single thing. Someone's compiling a list of all these companies which are doing what Reddit calls a "dirty delete".
Here's one of the rare organizations that has equal pay:
This is one of the only companies (that I could find) that pays women higher:
If you've been a long time reader, you'll know that women tend to ask for raises just as often as men do. But we just don't get the same amount of raises or promotions.
To celebrate IWD in my own way, here are some of my lessons regarding money and the female gender from you know, being a working woman who makes money and lives in our society.
MONEY LESSONS 101
Get very comfortable talking about money.
People (mostly men) will try to shame you, say it's not ladylike, or it's vulgar to discuss pay or money. They're wrong, and they're basically gatekeeping you from critical information. Information that you could use to increase your salary and get paid fairly.
Take that Gender Pay Gap Bot I mentioned before. That's an example of how keeping secrets around money can lead to lower pay for women.
Ask for more money — always.
The answer to an unasked question is always no. If you don't ask for a raise because you think talking about money is tacky, see point 1. What if you don't negotiate your salary because you don't want to scare them off? Almost every HR person and recruiter I've seen on Insta says that they are not only willing to negotiate, but they actually expect you to.
Push for pay transparency
Now, how do you ask for what you're worth if you don't know the going rate? That's on pay transparency. We need more of it in our countries and states, and organizations.
Companies are hella shady — they would not hire from an entire state or two than disclose the salary range for their open roles.
If your pay is so competitive, share it. Don't be shy.
RESPECT
Every woman reading this issue has been touched against her will, catcalled, teased, and possibly even assaulted. When you think of that, then dismissing women, teen girls, and their choices seem trivial in nature. But that's how it begins. The roots of misogyny run deep.
Stop punishing women for seeking pleasure.
Romance books are a multi-million billion-dollar industry, but critics don't call it literature, not really. It's always a guilty pleasure or a hidden secret. Women reading sexy or smutty stuff doesn't make their brains fall out. You can be multidimensional and like a wide range of things without needing to dismiss something if it doesn't fit your worldview.
Give teen girls more respect ffs
Whether it's BTS or One Direction, every time teen girls like something, both the thing they like and their choices are quickly dismissed. Often, male groups that gain fame due to their teen girl fanbase quickly ditch them in favour of an adult male fanbase. Do the Beatles or 5SOS ring a bell?
Acknowledge women's contributions
The winners write history. Also, the literate write history. When you don't let women access education, how will they make sure their contributions and successes are correctly recorded? From music to science to literature, women have made direct and indirect contributions that have propelled the world forward. Rarely do we know of them, though.
I've seen way too much info about Oglivy but hadn't heard of Mary Wells before — isn't that WILD?
If you're a woman (and trans women are women, btw), I hope these issues help you gain some confidence and understanding to ask for what you're worth.
For my male, non-binary, and gender-fluid friends, please share this issue with a woman or two who you think would benefit from reading it.
Support women-led businesses, especially those by WOC and Black women. It's probably too late to say this for 2022, but in 2023, don't send trite Women's Day wishes that ring hollow. Instead, do something substantive to show your support — share resources and information (you can do that throughout the year, no need to wait for March 8).
Penny for your thoughts?
Your anonymous feedback helps me improve. TIA!
A treasure trove of the good stuff! 🤩
When I was studying in the UK, I signed up for CoppaFeel's free text reminders to check my breasts for lumps. If you're in the UK/Europe, sign up for them! Everyone else, check your breasts and pecs today and do it once a month at least.
If you're a freelance writer or know someone who is — I've curated a list of essential freelance writing websites. Two easy, free ways to get it here.
I watched A Thursday last Thursday, and I loved it. I have many thoughts about it that I'll put on paper soon (I hope), but please give it a watch in the meantime.
Remember last week I talked about my friend Emma's Epic Spreadsheet of Small Sins as part of honouring our incremental progress? She's launching her newsletter at the end of the month — show her some support!
For International Women's Day, two men graciously allowed me to take over their timelines. Check out their feed for tweets starting with @sleepyhollowkid to see my work!
Finally, your reminder for the week:
That’s all for this week, folks!
Thank you for reading and don’t forget to hit like right below if you enjoyed this issue. :)
See you next week!