Last month, 33 Westchester Community College women participated in two $tart $mart workshops to learn concrete, pragmatic pay negotiation skills to help them avoid the still-prevalent gender pay gap. Women currently earn only 77 cents, on average, for every dollar that men earn. That translates to a lifetime pay gap of $1 million for college graduates and $2 million for women with professional degrees, like doctors or lawyers. The two workshops were jointly sponsored by Westchester Community College’s Career and Transfer Center, the WAGE Project, and the AAUW Westchester (NY) Branch. The workshop was made possible by generous funding from the AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund Campus Outreach Program and the Evvie Currie Giving Circle.
Annie Houle of WAGE conducted the two-hour workshops, beginning with a review of the causes for the wage gap. She taught the students how to find out what their skills are worth, showed them how to create an individualized budget, and coached them on how to negotiate.
The attendees enthusiastically participated in the lively discussion and the role-playing exercises. The women reported that they had acquired new knowledge of the pay gap and new pay negotiation skills. All students left with complete workbooks to help them perform successfully in future pay negotiations. Several older student participants said they wished they had known about the pay negotiation process earlier in their lives, but they were pleased to have these skills for future use. The attendees were typical of Westchester Community College’s student body: currently employed and studying for an associate degree.
Between the two workshop sessions, Houle trained five women to become facilitators for future workshops, including three AAUW members — Amy Small, Jane Pendergast, and Patricia Miller — and two staff members from the Westchester Community College Career and Transfer Center, Director Susan Hacker and Counselor Marilyn Merker. Trained $tart $mart facilitator Roli Wendorf, head of the branch’s Pay Equity Outreach program, also participated.
Westchester AAUW members Wendorf and Pendergast have already put the facilitator training to use. On April 11, they were co-instructors for a $tart $mart workshop that was co-sponsored by the Career Development office at Purchase College.
This post was written by AAUW Westchester (NY) Branch member Jane Pendergast.
AAUW Dialog 
I’m pleased to have the publicity.–Pat Miller