Now, Women Do Ask: A Call to Update Beliefs About the Gender Pay Gap

Why It Matters

Understanding that the gender pay gap persists despite equal negotiation attempts shifts responsibility from individual skill‑building to systemic change, prompting firms to redesign policies and cultures that currently disadvantage women.

Key Takeaways

• UK gender wage gap at 97% after 2017 disclosure law.
• Negotiation propensity shows no gender gap among experienced professionals.
• Women negotiate as often as men but achieve lower success rates.
• Pay gap widens with seniority despite equal negotiation attempts.
• Situational ambiguity, not gender, drives differences in negotiation behavior.

Summary

The NCMC webinar featured Professor Laura Craig examining whether the long‑standing belief that women earn less because they negotiate less still holds. She contrasted the United States’ 83% gender‑pay ratio with the United Kingdom’s 97% after a 2017 transparency law, highlighting how legislation can shrink gaps. Craig reviewed multiple explanations: vertical segregation, supply‑side factors such as education and job sorting, and demand‑side biases like non‑promotable task assignments. She then turned to the core hypothesis—women’s lower negotiation propensity—citing meta‑analyses that find gender differences only among negotiation novices or in ambiguous contexts, not among seasoned professionals. A striking quote from a seminal book claimed women “don’t ask” for raises or promotions. Craig’s own data, along with MBA panel studies and large‑scale surveys, show women actually ask as often as men, yet they report lower success rates, especially at senior levels where the pay gap is widest. Australian research reinforces this pattern: equal ask rates but higher rejection for women. The findings suggest that focusing solely on negotiation training misdiagnoses the problem. Organizations should address structural biases, clarify negotiation norms, and redesign promotion criteria to eliminate the hidden barriers that keep women’s compensation trailing despite comparable negotiation behavior.

Original Description

In this webinar, Professor Laura Kray challenges the long-held belief that women are less likely to negotiate for higher pay, sharing new research that shows this is no longer the case. She explores how negotiation behaviours have evolved over time and why outdated assumptions still influence workplace decisions, perceptions, and conversations about pay. With clear, practical insights, this session invites us to rethink what we believe about negotiation and gender, and what that means for building fairer, more informed workplaces.