Mayor Walsh Launches Free Salary Negotiation Workshops for Women in Boston

BOSTON - Monday, September 28, 2015 - Mayor Martin J. Walsh today announced a five-year partnership with the American Association of University Women (AAUW) to offer free salary negotiation workshops available to every woman in the city of Boston, called “AAUW Work Smart in Boston”. The goal is to train half of Boston’s working women, or 85,000 women, over the next five years.

“I am thrilled to partner with the AAUW to offer these workshops to the working women of Boston,” said Mayor Walsh “The AAUW workshops are the next step in giving women the tools they need to compete in today’s economy. When women succeed, our businesses, our communities and our city succeeds.”

Since establishing the Mayor’s Office of Women’s Advancement, Mayor Walsh has been committed to making Boston the premier place for working women. As part of a multi-pronged approach to close the gender wage gap, the free workshops are aimed at empowering women to know their value and will provide them concrete skills when they are at the negotiation table.

Attendees will participate in a two-hour workshop and will learn four key skills:

Step 1: Know your value
Step 2: Identify a Target Salary and Benefit Package
Step 3: Know Your Strategy
Step 4: Practice, Practice, Practice

Workshops will be provided in every neighborhood throughout Boston. A list of the fall workshops can be found atwww.boston.gov/women . Attendees will also be invited to participate in several networking opportunities following the workshops to form professional partnerships and develop pipelines for leadership.

“We are so excited to provide the working women of Boston these one of a kind workshops,” said Megan Costello, Executive Director of the Mayors of Women’s Advancement “We know that the gender wage gap still exists, so it’s important to work with both employers and individuals to shift the culture and ensure women are given equal opportunities.”

“AAUW fights tirelessly for fair pay at the national and local levels. Thanks to this new collaboration with Mayor Walsh, we’ll have an even greater impact because we are stronger working together,” said AAUW CEO Linda D. Hallman, CAE. “We will make monumental change in Boston and set an example for the nation right here in the city where AAUW was founded more than a century ago.”

AAUW is providing a project manager, Kristina Desir, who will work in City Hall in partnership with the Boston Mayor’s Office of Women’s Advancement to manage the day-to-day operations of the project.

The first salary negotiation workshop is being held today at 4:00 pm at the YWCA Boston in the Back Bay.