The absence of female negotiation

Research has found that women are not negotiating as much as men for better salaries. Professor Sunny Lee explains that it is a collective responsibility to change this.

The job website Glassdoor observes that women typically negotiate remarkably less than men in salary negotiations. Sunny Lee was a part of this research published on changeboard.com.

The research found that men are good at managing and interacting in larger groups, whereas women are more comfortable in smaller groups and having intimate work relationships.
“This suggests that women may perform more poorly in multi-party negotiations, where the ability to navigate multiple parties and to manage effective coalitions is a key for success.” Professor Lee.

Socially, males are more likely to be exposed to team sports, especially whilst growing up. Due to this exposure, men tend to be more comfortable with competition and in turn, negotiations.

“By contrast, women, due to a peer culture that has a greater appreciation for harmony and equality, often find competition inherently undesirable.” This may explain why women are more reluctant to negotiate since there is a competition element to negotiations. Women have also been found to find it harder to cooperate with colleagues after negotiations due to the emotional element.

A failure to negotiate at work can lead to lower salaries and harm important career opportunities. A failure to empower women in negotiations can hurt the business too, by narrowing their talent.

What can be done to encourage women to engage more actively in negotiations at work?

Personalities and values are shaped in our early life, however, attitudes and behaviours can be changed with practice. By avoiding negotiations, women are not only limiting their salaries but training, development and career progression.

Professor Lee suggests that women could upskill by taking part in negotiation workshops. Outside of work they could attend debate clubs and team sports, exposing themselves to settings where individuals naturally interact and negotiate with others in a competitive environment to make it more comfortable. Like most skills, practice will make negotiation more comfortable.

It is not about changing personalities for career progression; employers need to provide support by setting up a work culture where employees can openly speak up their ideas to the company as well as to other colleagues.

Read more on the study here. https://www.changeboard.com/article-details/17237/perspective-the-value-of-empowering-effective-female-negotiation/

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