May 11, 2017
Leading up to the last U.S. election cycle, a great deal of focus was placed on wage inequality and disparities in venture capital raised by women. It is now well established that not only do women typically make less money. However, add in any other factor, and dollar-for-dollar there are decreases in wages earned or capital raised. This comes at a time when more women are launching startups than ever before, with a 68 percent increase between 1997 and 2014. By comparison, women are launching startups at two times the growth rate of men.
A new study produced by Hired sheds light on these wage inequalities, while Women Who Tech compared dollars raised by women to that of their male counterparts. Between both studies, some cause and effect can be drawn between the two. As constraints are made, women are creating opportunities for themselves in building new businesses, only to be challenged again with an underfunded environment.
According to Women Who Tech, only seven percent of outside funding currently go to women-led startups. For some contrast, the same report shows that for every six investments made towards an all-male startup, one is provided for an all-woman led startup. As seen in the infographic, it can also been noted that for the women-led startups who receive funding, there is a 35 percent higher return on investment and generate 12 percent higher revenue.
On wage gaps, Hired found that 63 percent of the time women received lower salary offers than men for the same job at the same company. Though negative, Hired also reported that this is an improvement when compared to last year’s report. Much of the wage disparities start in the negotiation and interview stages, with a staggering 69 percent that asked for less money than men. By comparison, only six percent ask for the same amount as men, and 25 percent asked for more (typically younger women).
Disparities only stretch further when you add in other factors such as an LGBTQ status. According to Hired, white men are offered the highest salaries and black women are offered the lowest salaries. Non-LGBTQ men out earn all other categories, followed by LGBTQ men, non-LGBTQ women, and LGBTQ women.
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