Are women bad at negotiating salaries??

I read an article recently in a popular women’s magazine on how women should negotiate salaries when applying for jobs and that women are bad at negotiating a salary. Most of the data cited there was based on studies and surveys done in North America. However it was interesting to see the stats that were cited in the article on how much women lose if they don’t negotiate!


Perhaps what women look for in a good organization goes beyond just the salary it offers or may be they just don’t like to negotiate. I also think that many women candidates don’t negotiate as its difficult to talk about money, secondly they may worry that they are perceived as aggressive or needy when it comes to money. To negotiate one needs to overcome these personal barriers as well as possess the skills required to negotiate, but coming to think of it, I saw my mother bargaining all the time and some how that tells me that while you cannot equate bargaining to negotiating a salary, at a level they are the same. Its largely boils down to knowing the what you are worth, the pay range for the job and ability to convince the hiring origination that you deserve that pay (relate this to how your mother always told that vegetable vendor “that’s what others in the market are selling this xyz veg for”, “I always bought veggies from you from “xyz” years”, “the quality of these veggies is not so good to deserve that price”) J

I have personally not seen too many women candidates in India I have hired negotiate hard and but mostly the one’s who had did not go beyond basic level of negotiation. My recruiting friends also think the same and agree that they have been exceptions but really they are few and far between. This gets me thinking on two things:

1)What would come out of analyzing data of last one year on salary offered to women and male candidates for the same type of jobs?
2)Do we as HR professionals act differently considering the that most women candidates don’t negotiate their offers (in the context that male candidates negotiate and may drive up the salary offer made) ?

I think we should look hard at each offer we make especially if the analysis above shows that indeed the salary offered is lower for the same type of job in the case of women candidates given the same level of experience as male candidates and competency as assessed in the interview. A robust system of evaluating experience, competence and a data driven approach to salary positioning will reduce the probability that women candidates get lower salary then male candidates, but I wonder what has your experience been as a hiring manager or recruiter in this regard!