#TalkPay Twitter Movement to End Wage Gap

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published 6 May 2015

What's the secret to ending the wage gap? For Lauren Voswinkel, a software developer based in Pittsburgh, it came down to sharing her salary. On May 1 (International Workers' Day, a UK holiday), Voswinkel made a bold statement: She tweeted her job title, professional experience, and how much she makes—dollar for dollar.

The developer admitted it took her years, three job changes, and salary negotiations to realize how much she was really worth—and just how much she was being underpaid. "I just found myself thinking, how long have I been underpaid? How could I have prevented this? What was I missing?" Voswinkel told The Guardian (opens in new tab). "And I realized it was mostly because of a lack of conversation around pay."

So the developer called for others to share their titles and salaries (opens in new tab) with the hashtag #talkpay (opens in new tab) in hopes to change how women think about their salaries *and* help increase awareness among all genders.

#talkpay working for USGov at 18F, my salary is $157,100 -- top of the GS payscale, but less than my industry equivalentMay 5, 2015

Here goes. White lady, science degree2008: 1st dev job, 60k.2011: hard-won raise, 87k.2012: 2nd job, 104k2013: Made lead, 117k #talkpayMay 4, 2015

@theladyprograms The search for the 2nd job was interesting. One company low-balled me (80K) b/c no CS degree. Second company didn't.May 4, 2015

Now the question is—are you bold enough to share your salary (opens in new tab)?

You should also check out:

Mika Brzezinski's Fool-Proof Tips for Getting a Raise—Even If You're a Pushover (opens in new tab)

Should You Bother Your Boss: A Flowchart (opens in new tab)

The 7 Most Common Mistakes Women Make When Looking for a New Job (opens in new tab)

Samantha Leal is the Deputy Editor at Well+Good, where she spends most of her day thinking of new ideas across platforms, bringing on new writers, overseeing the day-to-day of the website, and working with the awesome team to produce the best stories and packages. Before W+G, she was the Senior Web Editor for Marie Claire and the Deputy Editor for Latina.com, with bylines all over the internet. Graduating from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University with a minor in African history, she’s written everything from travel guides to political op-eds to wine explainers (currently enrolled in the WSET program) to celebrity profiles. Find her online pretty much everywhere @samanthajoleal.