“Women are not used to talking about their salaries,” the actress and mother of three, 48, told PEOPLE at theMarie ClairePower Trip, a women’s empowerment conference.
“Ballplayers, CEOs, any man in tech, they can brag about what they’re worth,” she continued. “But it’s not polite for women to do that. We’re supposed to be shy. That is just ridiculous. We need to brag more. Men have no problem celebrating what they make.”
Timing didn’t help: When her salary became public, two actresses from the show, Jessica Capshaw and Sarah Drew, did not have their contracts renewed.Fans inferred that Pompeo’s salary was to blame.
“So much of the backlash came from women,” she said. “So many women on social media wrote to me and said, ‘They got fired so you could get a raise.’”
Kathryn Wirsing
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If anything, the backlash from discussing her salary publicly has only empowered her todiscuss it more. Now, it’s her goal to empower other women to speak up, and demand what they’re worth.
“As women, I think the first thought that goes through our mind [when discussing salary] is, ‘Am I going to seem difficult if I ask for this number? Are they going to think I’m crazy? Am I going to be hysterical?’ I don’t think men do that,” she said on a panel later that day to the group of 200 female entrepreneurs and businesswomen at theMarie ClairePower Trip.
“I had a very real number to derive my number from so it’s not like I just pulled it out of thin air,” she said.
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Her ultimate advice for her daughter and women everywhere? “Don’t take any s— from anybody,” said Pompeo.
“Don’t let any man tell you who you are, where to go, where to stand, who to be or what you should be thinking, saying or doing,” she said. “You do what you want to do. You tell them what you want to do and you go after it and do it and don’t let anyone get in your way, ever.”
source: people.com
