Massachusetts to Offer State-Wide Salary Negotiation Workshops for Women

MASSACHUSETTS—The Office of Economic Empowerment in the Office of the Treasurer and Receiver General of Massachusetts announced a new partnership with the American Association of University Women (AAUW) and its Work Smart program to sponsor 150 salary negotiation workshops in 2018, determined to train more than 5,000 women in the Commonwealth. These workshops will be offered at no cost throughout the state.

“With this new, statewide salary negotiation program, we are helping women across Massachusetts to ‘Just Ask!’ to be paid what they are worth, because when women are paid equally, we all benefit,” said Treasurer Deb Goldberg. “These workshops will give women the essential tools they need to empower themselves in the workplace, especially during salary negotiations.”

On average, women working full time typically make 80 cents compared to men’s dollar and the gap widens for women of color. Women in Massachusetts typically make 82 percent when compared to men. While Massachusetts has a slightly smaller gender pay gap than other states, an 18 percent gap is still far from gender parity.

“We applaud the Commonwealth for taking legitimate actions on multiple fronts to close the gender pay gap and to ensure positive change that impacts women, their families, and the state economy,” said Kim Churches, the chief executive officer of AAUW. “There’s no silver bullet to closing the pay gap, but with these workshops, women can begin to chip away at their own personal pay gaps and earn what they are worth in the marketplace.”

The state-wide trainings complement existing efforts in the city of Boston initiated in the fall of 2015. AAUW collaborated with Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh and the Mayor’s Office of Women’s Advancement to launch free city-wide salary negotiation workshops in order to train and empower area women to successfully negotiate their salaries and benefits.  More than 5,000 women around the region have attended the workshops thus far and the city intends to train 85,000 women over a five-year period.

The trainings serve as a multipronged approach in the fight for equal pay, which also includes advocacy and in-depth research. AAUW programs aim to close the leadership gap that exists in every industry. Until women receive equal pay for equal work and equal access to opportunities, true equality will remain elusive.

To date, AAUW Work Smart workshops have trained more than 50,000 women. The program currently has partnerships with six cities across the nation and is rapidly growing. AAUW intends to train millions of women nationwide by 2020.

Those interested in attending a free salary negotiation workshops can register online.

####

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) empowers women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy, and research. Our nonpartisan, nonprofit organization has more than 170,000 members and supporters across the United States, as well as 1,000 local branches and 800 college and university partners. Since AAUW’s founding in 1881, our members have examined and taken positions on the fundamental issues of the day — educational, social, economic, and political. Learn more and join us at www.aauw.org