How the salary 'ask gap' perpetuates unequal pay
Posted 3rd November 2021 • Written by Christine Ro on bbc.com • • • • •
Women and minorities ask for – and are offered – lower salaries than white men. It’s a problem called the 'ask gap' – and fixing it can pay major dividends.
Research shows that the pay gap, which is well documented, partly stems from the ‘ask gap’: the difference in salary expectations between groups, which undercuts women and minorities in particular. Closing this gendered and racialised ‘ask gap’ can pay major dividends for careers, reducing long-term salary inequality.
The ask gap in salary negotiations
In many fields, men expect higher salaries than women with comparable qualifications. A study of online jobseekers in Argentina found that women ask for 6% less on average – and this gap increases in male-dominated occupations. A survey of US doctors in residency showed that women’s ideal starting salary averaged 92% of men’s ideal.
According to a survey by compensation company PayScale, in the US, the median job offer for women with similar qualifications to men is $69,200 (£49,000). That’s $2,200 (£1,550) less than for men.
These numbers might not seem that worrying on their own. But pay gaps at the start of a career compound.
Some researchers have estimated that a difference of $1,000 (£700) in starting salary could lead to a cumulative loss of a half-million dollars (£353k).
A difference of $1,000 (£700) in starting salary could lead to a cumulative loss of a half-million dollars (£353k)
Ask gaps have many culprits, but key among them is the devaluation of women relative to men, and employees of colour relative to whites. Often people internalise these expectations. It can be harder for women to accurately assess their value, says Semnani-Azad. This might lead women to accepting the first job or salary offer, while men are more likely to wait for higher offers to land.
Women may be apprehensive about coming across as greedy or pushy in negotiations, or about hiring managers withdrawing or lowballing offers.
The double backlash means that it can be hard for women to ‘win’ at negotiating, no matter which tack they take. “If they’re too forceful or masculine, there’s a negative perception that they’re not collaborative, they’re not cooperative… But if they’re too nice and they’re collaborative or communal, then they’re perceived to be weak, or maybe not as competent,” explains Semnani-Azad. She’s experienced negotiation backlash herself, when it was clear that male hiring managers didn’t expect her to negotiate offers, and started downplaying her achievements in response. This kind of backlash affects women of colour in particular; black women are especially likely to be unfairly perceived as too aggressive in negotiating.
Ways forward
Clearly, more wage information is necessary, especially for people starting out in their careers. But it’s not sufficient for closing ask gaps.
What’s needed first is awareness of disparities in ask gaps – and what perpetuates them.
First, companies or governments can end the practice of basing salary offers on people’s previous salaries. “Women are coming in with a history of lower salaries usually. And so, this provides firms with an anchor for women that’s lower than the anchor for men for a given resume. And so that essentially perpetuates the gender gap,” explains Roussille. Positively, “there’s actually now in the US a number of states that banned salary history questions from employers. And there’s early evidence that this has helped reducing both the gender pay gap and the minority pay gap.”
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