Please Sir, can I have some more?

Women often undersell their talents when negotiating a pay-rise, and therefore get paid less than their male colleagues, a Swedish psychologist has discovered.

Bosses approach pay negotiations with a gender stereotype too - men are regarded as being decisive, strong and self-assertive whereas women are seen as being emotional and liable to back-down on their original demand. This means that even before she has entered the room the interviewer will treat their female workers in a different manner.

Una Gustafsson found: "I believe that if women are made aware of how stereotype-threat functions, they will be able to make up their minds to aim well above the mean salary and thereby avoid asking for too little pay.

"Men find it easier to get what they ask for. Discrimination exists. Studies have shown that men prefer not to work together with women who make substantial demands in salary negotiations. They are regarded as unpleasant and demanding, whereas men who ask for high salaries are not characterized this way at all."

With the credit crunch affecting many household budgets, women need to practice their negotiating skills to ensure that their household budgets can benefit from the salary increase. Rises in council tax, mortgage re-negotiated deals, utility costs and the need for home insurance to protect against climate anomalies as well as fire and theft means that a calm negotiation could achieve a good deal.

May 18^th 2008

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