There’s a widespread belief that women tend to shy away from negotiating higher salaries for themselves, which contributes to the overall gender pay gap.
However, a new study shows that women are now more likely than men to ask their employers for money — but they still end up making less.
Researchers looked at data from an exit survey given to nearly 1,000 graduating MBA students. Most women, 54 percent, said they were likely to negotiate their salary offer for their first job out of the program versus 44 percent of men.
Still, researchers found that women were paid substantially less than men. The study was published in the Academy of Management Discoveries.
“The good news is the researchers found that over the past two decades, women have been bargaining more, to point that they outpace men, when they ask for higher salaries,” ForbesWomen editor Maggie McGrath told “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski on Thursday’s show. “Researchers credit conversations like the one that you lead about the importance of asking for more and knowing your value.”
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Still, the perception that women are hesitant to negotiate their salaries is problematic because it places unwarranted blame on women and perpetuates the gener pay gap, said researchers. They suggested there needs to be a new narrative that instead of women being unwilling to ask for more money, they are punished for it.
“A big reason [the researchers] think that this pay gap is persisting in spite of women asking for more money is the perception that continues to persist that women aren’t asking for more money, that women make less money, and that the bias is on our shoulders to fix,” McGrath said.
“That perception is real,” Brzezinski agreed.
“A lot of employers need to do some self-reflection themselves — first of all we should be paying women the same amount as we pay men, as employers — but going into it being very conscious about the importance of not punishing women for asking for more,” said Huma Abedin, an MSNBC contributor and vice-chair of Forbes and Know Your Value’s 30/50 summit.
Know Your Value staff