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Equal Pay Day falls in 2023 on March 14 — a date determined by how long into the new year American women must work to catch up to American men’s earnings the previous year. In 2022, women earned 82% of what men earned. The wage gap for Hispanic and Black women is even higher — these groups made 70% and 65%, respectively, of what white men made.
Some of the gender pay gap can be attributed to differences in how women negotiate.
This is not to say that women don’t negotiate as well as men or even less often. Women are negotiating well and self-advocating in their careers every day – sometimes more actively and effectively than their male counterparts. Women have been observed to negotiate exceptions to typical work or business practices more than men. This includes, for example, negotiating a remote work arrangement prior to the pandemic.
But when it comes to salary and wage negotiations, research suggests that women are more reluctant to ask and less effective when they do.
That’s because salary negotiations are generally seen as competitive situations that favor men and masculinity. In such settings, self-advocating violates societal norms that women should be kind and communal. According to the authors of one study, women anticipating backlash from attempting to negotiate “hedge their assertiveness, using fewer competing tactics and obtaining lower outcomes.”
The fear of backlash is reasonable. Men and women alike say they are less willing to work with women who ask to be paid more.
I research negotiation and conflict management and teach a variety of negotiation courses to undergraduate and graduate students.
Here are five tips that you can start applying today to be more effective in your workplace negotiations. These strategies benefit women but represent best practices for anyone…
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