Heidy Rehman

Why we need a better way of talking about ‘equal pay’

I’ve grown to dislike the term ‘equal pay’. Without doubt women deserve to be paid the same as men for the same job performance, but it is the argument that stands against them. ‘Equal pay’ has an underlying tone of ‘it’s not fair’ – which is a weak position from which to negotiate.

I say this from experience, as a woman in the City who could and should have been paid more than her male counterparts. My argument was always equal pay. It failed me.

I was an equity research analyst at a large and prestigious US investment bank. Client rankings, as measured by the leading surveys (Extel and Institutional Investor), were the main indicators of job performance. In the last years of my career I was top ranked in both surveys across two disparate sectors (Chemicals and Construction /Industrials). As far as I am aware, no one else in the City has ever achieved this. But still, my pay lagged.

My boss would say, ‘you are my best-performing analyst’. I would respond, ‘but I’m not your best paid’. I lost count of the number of times I heard ‘next year’s your year’. I know now that I should never have signalled my value in the relative terms of equal pay. Instead I should have argued from an objective, singular and personal position within the market. 

A male colleague laughed at my frustration. ‘Don’t expect them to be fair. They’ll pay you as little as they can get away with. You need to hold a gun to their head.’ By this he meant counter-offers from rival banks. But it’s a strategy that has a limited lifespan. Potential employers are wary, existing employers untrusting. You mark your CV.

Eventually I left the City (partly in frustration) and went on to found my own company, Rose

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