COLUMBUS, Ohio — Alexandria Charles has worked her way up to become the regional director of Ability Chiropractic, and while she believes she is paid fairly, she says that’s not the case for many other women.

“It should be based on the work, not the person," said Charles. "So if we're just going purely off of output, the compensation should match that."

“I think a lot of times what makes it hard for women to want to advocate for themselves is it’s a lack of conviction in yourself. It’s always that fear of rejection,” said Charles. 

Advocacy, integrity and transparency are three morals Charles lives by. Morals that she said align with her employer. 

“So I do feel extremely appreciative that I am one of the rare instances where it is fair. It is based on output here,” said Charles. 

But she knows that’s not the case for a lot of women. 

“When we’re looking at especially women getting paid less in the medical field, you always have to look at who’s making those decisions,” said Charles. 

Ariane Hegewisch, the lead author of the wage gap report for the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, said women are often paid thousands less than men and for women of color, it’s even less.

“For women who work full time, year round compared to men who do that, so people who are really in the labor market on the same page, it’s about $12 to $14,000 less per year depending what state you live in,” said Hegewisch. 

She said the biggest wage gaps are in industries that have to do with money. 

“Among the largest occupations, you know, the top 24 women financial managers and their women only make $0.67 on the dollar,” said Hegewisch.   

Although women are still getting paid less than men, Charles says one key to changing that is for women to advocate more for themselves.

“If someone says, you know, like the common things, like a man saying things immediately after you do, don’t be afraid to say, ‘Hey, that was my idea,’” said Charles.