As a former underearner I can attest that many underpaid women are well-educated, intelligent, and extremely competent. The problem is that an underearner’s pay is not commensurate with her talents or with her financial needs. I was far from destitute however I wasn’t consistently making the money that I needed to create financial stability. In truth, underearning serves to foster some core belief that a woman holds; I was no different.
Although women say that they want to stop underearning they continue to underearn because in some way it serves them.
I had the fundamental belief that I couldn’t make a lot of money AND maintain my freedom. I didn’t see the point of having a larger salary if I wouldn’t have time to spend it (I had friends who were basically living in their offices because they were clocking 80 hour weeks). After my last corporate gig ended I started a not-for-profit organization, gave lectures, consulted and wrote for publications. Financially it was a feast or famine cycle: Big checks for some projects; followed by some smaller checks; then the money dried up—until the next big project.
I had a very good life and I could pay my bills—so change wasn’t a priority until I became a mother. To me, being a responsible mother meant that financially I had to be able to manage my household alone. Unfortunately I had seen several close friends go into a financial free-fall when their husbands lost their jobs or divorced them—I didn’t want to follow suit. The first step to any new behavior is awareness. Once I acknowledged my belief that money and freedom were mutually exclusive, I was able to reprogram my thinking.
5 Common Motivations Behind Underearning:
1. To Stay in Your Comfort Zone: An underearner sticks with a familiar (underpaying) job rather than risk the failure or rejection that’s associated with attempting to seek and maintain a higher paying position.
2. Fear of Giving Something Up: High salaried women look at reasonable trade-offs, “Would I be willing to give up X situation to get a higher salary.” In comparison, underearners only think in terms of sacrifice: “I’d have to up X (something extremely valuable to them) for me to earn more money”. The underearner can’t justify the extra money being worth the sacrifice.
3. Fear That The Money Would Be Taken Away: Some underearners curtail their income because they’re fearful that they wouldn’t be able to enjoy their additional money in peace. In their minds, if they had more money they’d be pressured to give more to elderly parents, adult children or ne’re do well siblings.
4. Fear that You Won’t Know How To Handle It: Many professional women easily handle their personal & household budgets, yet become paralyzed at the prospect of investing. An underearner doesn’t have any extra money to invest and therefore doesn’t have to address her money management fears.
5. To Maintain Their “This is My Life” Mindset: Many underearners believe that only “other” people can lead fulfilling and financially prosperous lives. Consequently they see their life and options as extremely limited. If you have trouble seeing greater possibilities for your life, even if your current circumstances are bad, you’ll maintain the status quo.
Take some time to ask yourself how your life would change if you earned a larger income. Be aware of any resistence that you’re feeling. If there’s any “Mo Money, Mo’ Problems” energy cropping up, try and get clear about the “problems” that additional income would present for you.
Also of Interest:
What’s Keeping You From Earning More Money
How Are High Income Women Different From Underearners
