Gender discrimination food for thought

This topic is always on my mind: how and when to negotiate for more.

This article kindof blew my mind and also reinforced what I think a lot of women know is true. Sure you can ask for more, but that may end up getting you less in other dimensions. It turns out that when a woman negotiates for more pay, the employer's opinion of the woman goes down. When a man negotiates for more pay, the employer's opinion of him is unchanged.

Two excerpts from the article:

"'What we found across all the studies is men were always less willing to work with a woman who had attempted to negotiate than with a woman who did not,' Bowles said. 'They always preferred to work with a woman who stayed mum. But it made no difference to the men whether a guy had chosen to negotiate or not.'"

And:

"Women were less likely than men to negotiate when they believed they would be dealing with a man, but there was no significant difference between men and women when they thought a woman would be making the decision. The applicants, in other words, were accurately reading how males and females were likely to perceive them."

Wow. This is the kind of research that happens when you don't start with the assumptions that girls and boys are just different and we shouldn't bother questioning why. Very insightful.