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Women less likely to negotiate on a job offer and pay than men

Businesswoman and businessman talking in modern office. Photo: Getty
Businesswoman and businessman talking in modern office. Photo: Getty

Women are less likely to negotiate on a job offer than men, according a survey by one of the largest jobs websites in the UK, CV-Library.

The survey of 1,200 working professionals, weighted to be nationally representative, found that while 55.1% of men would negotiate on parts of a job offer, only 42.1% women would do the same. Men are more likely to negotiate salary (83.1%) than women (73.1%).

Alarmingly, while 64.1% of men would feel comfortable asking for a pay rise, only 42.6% of women feel comfortable asking for a pay rise. Women are less concerned about job titles than men — almost a third say that their job title is the most important part of a job offer, while just a quarter of women say the same thing.

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“In this day and age, it’s concerning to see that women are still holding back from negotiations in the workplace. Whether it’s salary, working hours or their job title, it’s important to be direct with your employer about your needs,” said Lee Biggins, founder and CEO of CV-Library.

“There could be many reasons for men receiving bigger pay rises than women, but it certainly seems that men are happier to advocate on their own behalf. Surely, this has contributed toward their higher earnings.

“If you suspect that you’re being paid less than a colleague for the same job, then you’re well within your rights to confront the issue head-on. Taking ownership is the best way to start closing that gender pay gap.”

While not asking for more has been used to explain the burgeoning gender pay gap, which will take over 100 years to close, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF), a number of high-ranking business people have hit out over the issue of “women’s confidence” being the reason.

In January this year, Carolyn Tastad, group president of North America at Procter & Gamble said that there is a common “false narrative” that is used by society and companies for the woeful gender gap for women in senior leadership positions.

“There is a false narrative and there are false bias assumptions we are using as justification for the lack of progress. There are a number of things we have to do differently,” said Tastad.

“The first thing we have to do is stop some of the labelling that is happening, typically, negatively towards women in terms of working through things.”

Tastad said that “many people hear about women’s confidence or lack of confidence” and that stems from a study that showed that men will apply for jobs even if they only possess 60% of the requirements in a criteria. Meanwhile, women will only apply for jobs if they have 100% of the criteria.

READ MORE: A Procter & Gamble boss: There’s a ‘false narrative’ used to ‘justify’ the gender gap