Super Bowl LI is in the books and the commercials have to be half of all viewers favorite part of the game. While companies are typically expected to put together their best and most funny ads Audi decided to make a statement against the inequality and unfair pay of women in the workforce.
Audi’s commercial which depicts a young girl at a boxcar derby event with all boys, shows her father questioning himself how he would explain to his daughter that because she is a girl she will be worth less than the man she marries and her value will never amount up to a man’s regardless of her education. While the daughter is maneuvering through the boys in the race with her skills and wit, she ends up finishing in first place. The girl’s father wants to be able to tell his daughter something different. Audi closes the commercial with the statement:
“Audi of America is committed to equal work for equal pay.”
Audi has recognized the amount of inequality women are still receiving even though it is 2017. In the 20th century women were earning 60% of what men were for doing the same amount and line of work, since then the gap has closed to closer to 80% since 2014 and has remain unchanged.
According to Linda Babcock, author of “The High Cost of Avoiding Negotiation–and Positive Strategies for Change” only 30% of women negotiate salary pay compared to 46% of men. While only 39% men are apprehensive about negotiating, 55% of women are apprehensive. Besides the inequality, the lack of wanting to negotiate is the biggest barrier for women in earning as much as men.
The lack of negotiating is due to the feeling that women will feel naggy, intrusive, and less like a team player. According to Hannah Riley Bowles of Harvard Business Review, “It is good advice for any negotiator – male or female — to ask for what they want in terms that their counterparts will perceive as legitimate and mutually beneficial. But for women, it is especially helpful because it unburdens them from the social costs of self-advocating.”