Do Women Deserve Equal Pay ?!

DO WOMEN DESERVE EQUAL PAY ?!

There have been 15 Office of Personnel Management (OPM) directors since the agency’s formation in 1979 including present acting director, Beth Cobert – 10 have been women. In total the agency has had 5 male directors and 10 female directors. Human Resources appears to be a field dominated by women for now. As the role of human resources expands and is given greater visibility at the decision-making table, we will probably see the female dominated dynamic change and salaries of course will become more competitive.

Beth Cobert articulated a very pointed statement in July after taking over the helms from outgoing director, Katherine Archuleta. Cobert expressed concern over pay-setting guidelines for women as women’s salaries continue to lag behind those of men in the Federal Government. A report by the Office of Personnel Management revealed critical findings some 16 months after it was conducted. Women still made a startling 12.7 percent less than men overall in the public sector in 2012. Although things are improving for women, they are still not where they should be. In 1992 women made 30 percent less than men and in 2002 they made 19.8 percent less. While women make up only a third of the federal workforce, their representation in the STEM professions (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) is even more daunting.

Cobert has issued correspondence to hiring managers in federal agencies indicating that if a woman is qualified for a position then the salary she made outside of the government should not be a determinant as to how her government salary will be set. If a salary range has been set for a particular position and the female has been hired then her salary should be commensurate with the set salary and not based on her earnings outside of the government. It was also noted that agencies employ special hiring authorities to leverage the salaries of men but fail to use those same flexibilities for women.

We don’t know how long Cobert will head up OPM since directors come and go with an average tenure of about 4 years even when appointed under a two-term President of the United States. Women interested in the Federal government and equal pay consideration to their male counterparts might want to get their resumes and applications ready since there seems to be for now a champion of women at the helm of the Office of Personnel Management.

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