The gender pay gap in the United States is among the largest of many industrialized nations, and because women make up nearly half our workforce, this disparity impacts us all.
Raise Above
The Wage
Introduction
We believe that the first step to solving a problem, is to deeply understand that problem. It is for this reason that we envisioned “Raise Above The Wage”. We wanted to create a product where anyone could explore, empathize, and experience wage inequality.
This product is a Chrome Browser Extension that illustrates how earning less ends up costing more. As users shop online, they can use this extension to adjust the prices of products on their screen based on the earnings of a particular race and gender. By seeing the prices increase, it is our hope that users will gain a deeper understanding of the affects of the pay gap.
The Chrome Extension
Raise Above The Wage Chrome Extension, is a way for people to experience the wage gap and gain a deeper personal understanding of its impact. Through this extension, a user will be able to pick a profile of four different women and watch as the prices of online items change based on the income of the selected profile.
Experience the Gap, Be the Change
Download the Chrome Extension from the Google WebStore
How Is The Wage Gap Calculated?
In the US, women who work full-time are only paid 79% of what men make per year. Wage inequality is even greater for women of color.
What Does This Mean?
Since women are earning less, that means that everyday purchases are costing them more. These expenses add up over time. Use the diagram below to explore what everyday purchases are actually costing women.
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SHE WOULD HAVE TO WORK
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LONGER TO PURCHASE
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USD
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white male
Diane works as a manager of a service center for a major mortgage lender in the suburbs of Atlanta.
Diane is a mother of two high school kids and has a husband who also works full time. She’s been an employee of the company for 12 years and two years ago completed an online MBA program that she felt would help her career.
Diane generally puts in 45 hours per week and sometimes attends to issues on weekends. She has recently been promoted to senior manager, replacing a man in that position. The new position included a raise in salary to $76,242. The raise is at the bottom end of what she heard informally the position could pay, but is unsure how to actually find out and feels she’d rather focus on her new position than cause waves over finding out what her predecessor made.
In fact, the male senior manager was paid $94,650 when he started the same position with roughly the same experience as she has.
Mina is 37 and works as a shipping clerk for wholesale fabricator of cribs in North Carolina.
She manages invoices, customer orders, customer service, etc. She is the only person doing her job in the warehouse.
The other positions in the company are mostly related to warehouse operations such as forklift driver, equipment maintenance manager and packers.
She has two young kids, is not married and her mother also lives with her. The other non-managerial positions in the warehouse pay an average of 25% more than she gets paid.
Victoria works as a sales associate in the personal computer department of a big box electronics retailer in Phoenix, AZ.
She is a senior in a local community college studying to be a radiology technician. She has been with the retailer for two years and is known as a person to go to for help on customer issues and is good with customers. Victoria is paid $13.50 / hour to do the same work that male colleagues do but get paid an average of $14.75 for the same experience.
Victoria has heard that her co-workers make more than her and she has brought it up in her most recent review. Her supervisor, a man, said that he cannot comment on other’s wages, she’s doing good work and that she will be up for a raise in another six months.
Team Members
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