Human resource professionals report that men are far more likely to ask for more money than women when negotiating pay.
When asked "In your experience, do men ask for more money than women when negotiating salary?," 87 percent responded "Yes" and 13 percent responded "No" in a recent Compensation.BLR.com poll.
According to the American Association of University Women (AAUW), an organization that advocates for programs and policies that allow women to achieve economic security, one way that employers can help put an end to the gender wage gap is to invite a trainer or hold a seminar on negotiation skills.
In its Pay Equity Resource Kit published in June 2007, AAUW cited a study that found that eight times as many men as women graduating with master's degrees from Carnegie Mellon negotiated their salaries. The men who negotiated were able to increase their starting salaries by an average of 7.4 percent, or approximately $4,000.
AAUW explained that in the same study, men's starting salaries were about $4,000 than women on average, suggesting that the gender wage gap could have significantly smaller if more women had negotiated their starting salaries.
The Compensation.BLR.com poll included 265 respondents.
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