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Women earn as much as men in only five job categories: hazardous waste cleanup; telecommunications line installation and repair; event planning; cafeteria work and construction trade. (Source: U.S. Census Bureau)

JUNE / JULY EXCLUSIVES
Negotiating to Win
By Andrea Hershatter

Why too many women don´t ask for what they want, keeping big jobs and top salaries out of reach.

The biggest thing holding us back from higher salaries - six figures and beyond - might just be ourselves. Recent studies show that women, even at the highest levels of business, perceive negotiation negatively, while men almost relish it. And when it comes to negotiating pay it's costing women dearly.

The trouble starts early on. From the sandbox to the playing field to the classroom, boys encounter far more power and control over their environment than girls do. Boys are often rewarded more often for taking a stand and admonished less frequently for making aggressive demands. It's no wonder they grow up more eager to negotiate than women.

Though women hold nearly half of the management level jobs in the U.S. work force, on average, white women earn 78 cents for every dollar a male earns. Minority women earn even less, with African-American women making 67 cents and Latina women being paid 56 cents on the dollar.

Experts disagree about how and why the difference persists, despite the gains made by working women and the laws that protect women from salary discrimination. Statistics from the Department of Labor point to one partial explanation: men and women enter different professions. Another recent study, conducted in the United Kingdom, suggests women are more likely to hold nonprofit sector jobs and positions in smaller private firms that simply pay less.

However, mounting evidence across many professional fields shows even when everything else is equal, men make more money for doing the same job. The reasons? Several independent researchers have established a stunning new theory: Women aren´t very good at negotiating for the salaries they deserve. In fact, women are less likely than men to engage in negotiations.

Men view the negotiation process positively, as sort of a game, while women find it painful, according to Women Don´t Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide by Linda Babcock and Sara Leaschever. Also, male MBA candidates participating in salary negotiations for the same job at a fictitious company both asked for more money and were far more likely to believe they were worthy of higher salaries than the female MBA candidates, according to Lisa Barron, a professor at the University of California.

Women and men both made lower offers to women, and both sexes demanded more from women, according to a study at the University of Vermont. The situation however, is far from hopeless.

Women negotiate less, do it less effectively and tend to take the whole process personally, according to studies by Carol Frohlinger, a managing partner at The Shadow Negotiation, a firm that teaches women bargaining skills.

The situation however, is far from hopeless. The first step is recognizing the problem. While it is nice to believe the world is a meritocracy in which money follows performance, the evidence shows otherwise. The good news is that negotiating is a teachable skill and one that can be depersonalized as an experience by gathering data and reducing ambiguity. Women who learn to negotiate will not only reap their own financial rewards but also set the stage for those who will follow.

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NEGOTIATING TO WIN
Why too many women don't ask for what they want, keeping big jobs and top salaries out of reach.



5 SALARY BOOSTERS

1. Ask for what you want.

2. Preface what you´re asking for with a list of accomplishments and don´t be afraid to toot your own horn.

3. Contrast what you´re being paid with others at your level in your industry (see salary.com)

4. Remember "No" only means no for the moment. Ask again in a month or two.

5. View the process as a game rather than taking it personally.