Women’s negotiating style not responsible for gender pay gap

Women negotiate just fine. Really.

This is the finding of a recent large-scale review study that looked at the most effective ways to address gender differences in negotiation, scouring both academic research and workplace policy outcomes. It found that women do best at negotiating when left to their own instincts.

“Our study says that women know when negotiations will benefit them, and seem to opt out of negotiations that are costly to them,” said Maria Recalde, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Melbourne and co-author of the National Bureau of Economic Research study.

This is, uh, not what we womenfolk have been told for the last decade or so. We have been told that we’re doing it wrong, that we’re leaving money on the table, and that we need to be more assertive.

“That’s the easy answer for a lot of organizations. They say, ‘OK, let’s have a conversation with women. Let’s encourage them to be a little bit more assertive,’ ” Recalde said.

The typical advice: “Women should just ask, and they should get into more negotiations, and ask for pay raises and promotions, and reach out more, send those emails, and behave a little more like men,” Recalde said.

Being more assertive in negotiations does not usually work for women. Lise Vesterlund, a professor of economics at the University of Pittsburgh, co-authored a NBER study that pushed women to negotiate more like men, and not only did that tactic not work, but women’s efforts backfired. In practice, this could damage work relationships and credibility.

“A lot of the emphasis from both policymakers and organizations has been on this fixthe-women approach,” Vesterlund said. But the study finds, “If we just train women to go in and be aggressive, like men, they will be perceived and treated differently than the men. They experience a lot more backlash. So making women behave like men is not the solution to reducing the gender gap.”

Women do successfully negotiate when a potential gain is to be had, and women usually know when their situations can be improved upon.

“We’re seeing that once women know what other people are making, they’re actually pretty good at securing similar wages,” Vesterlund said.

For your own negotiations, Recalde suggests proceeding with caution. Her advice:

Read. Try Linda Babcock’s book “Women Don’t Ask,” which lays out the general guide rails of negotiating. Then read some more, about your industry and norms.

Get information. What are the pay ranges, and how often can you reasonably request a salary increase? What strategies have worked for others in your department? What are typical career trajectories for men and women with your job?

And above all, trust your gut. “You have the best understanding of your situation and what will benefit you, given the context in which you work and who you work with. So take all this information and make your own choice — don’t feel pressured to do something that may backfire.”