March marks the start of spring and the national recognition of women’s history.
As a woman-owned and operated small business, Mollard Consulting is a certified women business enterprise (WBE) with the City of Columbus. We are also proud supporters of the Columbus Women’s Commission and adopters of the Columbus Commitment to achieve pay equity for women.
The Columbus Women’s Commission is working to dismantle barriers and reduce gender-based inequities to improve the economic position of all women in our community. The Columbus Commitment is a voluntary, employer-led initiative to close the gender and race-based wage gap in Columbus.
As we affirm our belief and commitment to pay equity, we want to share some of the latest data from the Columbus Women’s Commission to illustrate the challenges that persist.
“The Pay Equity Issue: Women in Columbus earn 78 cents to every dollar earned by a man. This puts Columbus lower than the national average of 80 cents for every dollar earned by a man.
Nationally, African-American women earn 63 cents for every dollar a man makes, while Latina women earn 54 cents. Despite this, women are participating in the workforce at a rate of 63% in Central Ohio and make up just over 50% of our population locally. Women are still paid less for the same work.”
In addition to making less, women are taking on more and more responsibilities. Last September, McKinsey & Company released Women in the Workplace 2021, and their findings paint a picture of how women are leading despite the constant challenges.
“A year and a half into the COVID-19 pandemic, women have made important gains in representation, and especially in senior leadership. But the pandemic continues to take a toll. Women are now significantly more burned out—and increasingly more so than men.
Despite this added stress and exhaustion, women are rising to the moment as stronger leaders and taking on the extra work that comes with this: compared with men at the same level, women are doing more to support their teams and advance diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. They are also more likely to be allies to women of color.”
I see this level of leadership every day by the women who lead our clients, women colleagues in the community, and the women of Mollard Consulting. They are all working diligently to meet the demands of their jobs while going the extra mile to create lasting change in our community.
To the women who are burned out — we value you and your work, but more needs to be done to address equity in the workplace.
We encourage you to read the entirety of the McKinsey & Company report and to host a conversation with your team and your organization’s leadership. We also encourage those of you in Central Ohio to join us in signing the Columbus Equity Pledge. I can think of no better way to honor Women’s History Month.
Article by: Kerri Laubenthal Mollard, Founder & CEO
