Véronique Goy Veenhuys

I’m an economist by training. I set up and run EQUAL-SALARY, a not-for-profit foundation that promotes equal pay between men and women and offers organizations equal-pay certification. An organization that receives our certification can communicate that it pays women and men fairly. This helps them to attract and retain talent – especially female talent – and demonstrates that they abide by the rules of good governance.

My passion. By providing companies and institutions with certification, I’m contributing to creating a fairer work environment for men and women. I find purpose in the Foundation’s missions. I also like that I’m free to organize my time as I wish. I can make time to be creative, do the things I enjoy and be with my family. And working with companies allows me to be adventurous and explore. I may not have become financially wealthy – at least not yet ! But I do feel like I’ve had a wealth of experiences.

My career path. I worked and travelled between school and university, where I obtained a degree in economics. Then later on, after working as an employee for a while and having my daughter, I wanted to do something I felt more passionate about and have time for my family. With this business venture, I’ve become a socially minded businesswoman. My husband, David, has given me his unconditional support in all respects. He never doubted that I’d be able to achieve my goals. More recently, we started working with a multinational looking for worldwide certification. That was a major step for our foundation – we’ve had to think globally and take our work to over 90 countries.

I’m someone who likes building bonds with people. That’s probably what’s helped me to achieve my goal. I’m curious, I like meeting new people, and I’m interested in people. I’ve had support from the people I’ve teamed up with – those partnerships were key in helping me to achieve what I set out to do.

A downside or obstacle ? I’ve lost a lot of hours of sleep. And after nearly 15 years of intense work, we still have a lot to do. I don’t think I’d be wrong to say that there probably aren’t many men and even fewer women in my field. But I don’t feel that being a woman has been an obstacle. Quite the opposite – only a woman could do what I do. As Michael Kimmel says : “Privilege is invisible to those who have it”.

I’m proud to have created the EQUAL-SALARY certification and to have brought equal pay to companies. Fifteen years ago, campaigns for equal pay were run by unions and “feminists”. I wanted to offer a more concrete, practical and scientific way of measuring equal pay with help from recognized partners. My partnership with one of the top four audit firms in the world shows that this issue is now firmly in the spotlight. Getting there has required inventiveness, resilience and perseverance.