How much do you make?

Marilyn Tam
Vunela
Published in
4 min readOct 31, 2023

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The gender pay gap and what you can do about it.

The men in my executive training program made 20% more than I did. I found this out during our internship, but I was too afraid to complain. Having moved from another State to take my first full time job straight out of graduate school, I didn’t know of other options if I protested and was fired.

Image of a woman speaking on stage with the flags of all nations behind her and a banner that says, Rotary Connects the World.
Now many years later, the author is able to speak out for peace and injustice for everyone. And we still have a long way to go.

Now decades later, the women, including the Prime Minister, and non-binary people of the world’s most gender equitable country, Iceland, went on strike for gender equality. According to World Economic Forum, Iceland has a 9% gender pay gap, the smallest in the world, but 40% of the women there have experienced gender based sexual violence. The world has a way to go before everyone has equal opportunity to live, contribute and thrive without fear.

In the US, it will take 95 years to close the gender pay gap based on the current rate of progress. When a large percentage of the population is being held back, in subtle and blatant ways, from being able to fully contribute their potential, we all lose. Little progress has been made in the 17 years that World Economic Forum has been tracking the global gender pay gap.

As a leader and working professional, how can you create a more equitable, collaborative, and happier world for everyone? And especially including

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Published in Vunela

Educating, inspiring and empowering the next generation of leaders.

Written by Marilyn Tam

Marilyn Tam, global speaker, best selling author (The Happiness Choice), business leader and humanitarian. Formerly the CEO of Aveda, President Reebok, VP Nike

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