Wow! I just read the most interesting research information about the differences in women and men when it comes to asking for a raise and had to share this with everyone. It's definitely something to think about before you walk into your boss' office.
According to a recent blog by Shankar Vedantam of the Washington Post, he cites research by Linda C. Babcock, a professor of economics at Carnegie Mellon University that shows women and men are indeed often very different when it comes to opening negotiations for salary and that these differences may help at least partially explain the persistent gender gap in salaries as well as other disparities, such as in how people rise to the top in companies.
Here's a condensed version of what Shankar shares in his blog:
The traditional school of thought is that maybe women should be trained to be more assertive and to ask for more. However, new studies are showing that women and men get very different responses when they initiate negotiations and that while women may hurt themsevles by not negotiating, their reluctance was actually based on a reasonable and accurate view of how they were likely to be treated if they did. The study showed that both men and women were more likely to subtly penalize women who asked for more!! The perception was that women who asked for more were "less nice".
For the whole scoop, read Shankar Vedantam's entire blog by clicking here.
You can do it!
Lisa Quast
Career Woman, Inc. - "Your Future, Your Way"
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