In 2015 the American Association of University Women (AAUW), Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh, and the Mayor’s Office of Women’s Advancement launched a large-scale grassroots initiative to teach and empower 85,000 women by 2021 to confidently and successfully negotiate for salary and benefits packages and help close the gender pay gap in Boston.

In the city of Boston, the median earnings of all women working part time or full time are 84 percent of what working men are paid (based on the Boston Redevelopment Authority’s analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data). Men working full time in Boston are almost twice as likely as women working full time to earn $100,000 or more per year. While Boston has a smaller gender pay gap than the national rate, a 16 percent gap is still far from gender parity.

AAUW Work Smart is designed to help you negotiate for a new job as well as for earned raises or promotions. In every two-hour workshop, you’ll gain confidence in your negotiation style through facilitated discussion and role-play and learn

• How to identify and articulate your personal value
• How to develop an arsenal of persuasive responses and other negotiation strategies, including how to get a raise or promotion
• How to conduct objective market research to benchmark a target salary and benefits
• About the pay gap, including its long-term consequences

Why is negotiation so important? AAUW’s research on the gender pay gap shows that, one year out of college, women are already paid significantly less than men. Women who work full time take home 80 cents for every dollar a full-time male worker is paid. And over a lifetime, those lost potential earnings add up.

Women who negotiate increase their potential to earn higher salaries and better benefits packages. By negotiating fair and equitable salaries, you’ll be better able to pay off loans, buy the things you want and need, and even save for retirement.