Latest Research: Women Ask for Raises as Often as Men, but Are Less Likely to Get Them

From researchers Benjamin Artz, Amanda Goodall, Andrew J. Oswald:

"It’s a concrete fact that women earn less than men do. The true gender pay-gap is not known with certainty, but, when comparing equally qualified people doing the same job, most estimates by labor economists put it at 10% – 20%. The crucial question remains its cause. One common explanation is that women are less likely to negotiate their salaries.

What we found contradicts previous research. The bottom line of our study is that women do “ask” just as often as men. They just don’t “get.”

We found that, holding background factors constant, women ask for a raise just as often as men, but men are more likely to be successful. Women who asked obtained a raise 15% of the time, while men obtained a pay increase 20% of the time. While that may sound like a modest difference, over a lifetime it really adds up.

The bottom line is that the patterns we have found are consistent with the idea that women’s requests for advancement are treated differently from men’s requests. Asking does not mean getting — at least if you are a female."

To read the entire study, visit: https://hbr.org/2018/06/research-women-ask-for-raises-as-often-as-men-but-are-less-likely-to-get-them