The University of Alabama’s Women and Gender Resource Center is partnering with the Career Center and the American Association of University Women to present multiple Start Smart salary negotiation workshops. 

Created by AAUW, a national nonprofit that has aimed to create equity for girls and women around the world since 1881, these virtual workshops equip college-age women with the tools they need to negotiate their salaries and benefits when entering the workforce.

What: The AAUW Start Smart salary negotiation workshop.

Who: The workshop is geared toward women, but anyone is welcome to attend. 

When: The event is on Wednesday, Feb. 23, from 5 to 7 p.m.

Where: Register for free on Zoom.

Increasing professional confidence and knowledge of salary negotiation skills is important for anyone, but it is especially helpful to women as it can help to mitigate the gender wage gap. 

Stemming from social conditioning and expected familial roles, the wage gap has affected generations of women. While many things will need to change to eradicate the gap, the Women and Gender Resource Center and AAUW are directly helping to ease the disparity by promoting their workshops.

Elizabeth Lester, the Women and Gender Resource Center’s program coordinator, said she enjoys running the monthly workshops and is excited about the benefits they give others. 

“It’s definitely one of my favorite things to do out of all of our programming because it has a really direct purpose,” Lester said. “By doing a pay equity workshop, I’m actually giving people concrete tools that they can use.” 

The workshops will consist of a facilitated group discussion about topics like the wage gap, applying personal details to the job hunt, the basics of job salaries and benefits, and utilizing this information while conversing with employers. 

After the discussion, participants will be given a chance to role-play as employees and employers and work on their newly learned skills.

To register for this free event, sign up at tinyurl.com/uastartsmartfeb. To learn about future workshops and events, follow the Women and Gender Resource Center on Instagram and Facebook @uawgrc or sign up for the newsletter at wgrc.sa.ua.edu/.