The New York Times reports on an interesting finding:
Also this summer, Linda C. Babcock, an economics professor at Carnegie Mellon University, looked at gender and salary in a novel way. She recruited volunteers to play Boggle and told them beforehand that they would receive $2 to $10 for their time. When it came time for payment, each participant was given $3 and asked if that was enough.
Men asked for more money at eight times the rate of women. In a second round of testing, where participants were told directly that the sum was negotiable, 50 percent of women asked for more money, but that still did not compare with 83 percent of men. It would follow, Professor Babcock concluded, that women are equally poor at negotiating their salaries and raises.
I’m not surprised by this finding. I know a woman who once refused a bonus because she said she was simply grateful to have the job. Another woman I know returned to work at a company after many years, and she received the exact same salary — which, after adjusting for inflation, was a lower salary at that point.
Of course, there are women who are penny-pinchers and men who are pushovers. But in general, men take risks, and women desire security. In other words, men are more willing to risk losing a job offer rather than accept a lower salary. Women are not. Men are generally more aggressive in the work environment.
Do women generally receive lower wages and salaries simply because they are women? No. It is due to many other factors.
