Salaries for women still lag

According to the nonprofit Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology, female professors still earn around 80% of their male counterparts' salary. Some have argued that women and minorities aren't paid as much because they don't push as hard for the higher salaries, but two recent studies challenge that argument.

Dorceta Taylor (Bioscience, 57:175-85, 2007) showed that more women enrolled in science and engineering programs expected to receive a lower starting salary than that of men; 39% of women said they would accept a minimum salary within the range of $30,000-$39,000, while only 29% of men said they'd accept that range. Taylor's first thought was that women adjusted their expectations to the reality of the workplace, but the study also showed that minorities had comparable salary expectations (and in some cases slightly higher) as whites. She plans to study this paradoxical finding in future surveys.

A factor that compounds the gender inequity in salaries over time is that women's salaries don't increase as quickly as men's. "One potential interpretation of that data is that women need more negotiation training or confidence," says Hannah Riley Bowles, a professor of public policy at Harvard University and primary author of a study on gender differences during salary negotiations (Organ Behav Hum Decis Process, 103: 84-103, 2007). Her study shows that women face higher social risks than men do when they attempt to negotiate salary.

Overall, women were less inclined than men to negotiate, particularly when the evaluator was male. The women explained that nervousness prevented them from asking for a raise, rather than a belief that they would be denied the request or experience backlash. One possible explanation for the nervousness was the finding that both men and women said they didn't want to work with women who negotiated. Women who asked for raises were perceived as "less nice, or overly demanding" by both men and women, but "it didn't matter as much if the men negotiated," says Bowles.

When the evaluator (or boss) was female, men and women asked for raises at similar frequencies. Female evaluators, however, said they didn't want to work with either men or women who negotiated.

Bowles is hopeful that her research will elucidate social norms that most people may not be aware of. While "society corrects itself," Bowles suggests keeping in mind who you're negotiating with and remaining friendly and confident. "The better someone knows you, the less they'll fall back on gender norms."

I'm just wondering why people should have to negotiate their wage? Are you not doing the same job as the other people you work with?

I am more than happy to accept a standard reasonable wage. I would not like to be in a position where I earn more than someone else who was doing the same job, just as I would not like to be in a position where I was earning less because I hadn't asked for a raise.

I think their should be regular pay reviews and progressive wage increases. I don't see why a wage should be frozen for a period of 3 years or more, inflation decreases the value of what you are earning. It may make budgeting at the start of a project easier, but it breads discontented workers, they may be happy for the first year, but if you give them no incentive to keep working they will lose productivity.