The Women’s Outreach Center is set to host a three-hour workshop Friday to educate young women about the gender-wage gap and how to beat it.

Annie Houle, a director of a national female workers rights group, will present the workshop titled “Start Smart” from 9 a.m. to noon in the Oklahoma Memorial Union. Participation is limited, with only 30 slots open so participants can practice negotiating skills with each other, said Kathy Moxley, director for the Women’s Outreach Center.

On average, women make about 77 cents to every dollar that men make in the same field, she said. The workshop’s goal is to educate women about how to get a salary equal to a man’s in the same profession, Moxley said.

“Thirty-three cents doesn’t sound like a lot, but that could add up to $1 million later on,” Moxley said.

One of quickest ways for a woman to level the field is to do her homework, she said. Simply figuring out how much money is earned on average in the profession gives an edge to anyone entering a new field.

And those salary negotiations will be a main focus of the workshop, Moxley said.

“When you get out of college, you’re just excited to have a job,” she said. “A younger woman doesn’t negotiate at first, but we’re hoping she’ll leave with the skills to do it.”

Subpar negotiating skills are one of the biggest causes of the pay gap, said Jill Irvine, director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Department. Culturally, women are not socialized to think as aggressively and ask for raises or promotions, she said.

“This is something that men get made aware of,” Irvine said. “Whether it’s through talking to peers, parents, mentors, they get very clear messages. Don’t sell yourself short. Ask for it.”

Another reason women aren’t getting paid as much as men is the ever-difficult balance between work and family, Irvine said. The single most important hit women take in wages is when they start to have children, she said.

Irvine said women could roughly plan on losing about $7,000 to $8,000 per year in wages per child.

“Women up to about the age of 25 tend to earn much more equivalent pay rates to men, but in the childbearing years they don’t keep up,” Irvine said.

There’s been a lot of attention to family-friendly work, Irvine said. The Family Medical Leave Act, which was passed in 1993, promises a parent 12 weeks off while employed by companies with more than 50 employees, she said.

Irvine said young women should go into a career being mindful of how much they are worth. She said one of the best ways to gain knowledge is to find a woman in that chosen field and inquire about the average salary, expectations, benefits and challenges in that field.

“Do a little bit of homework,” Irvine said. “Don’t assume that what you’re being offered is fair.”