The Asking Gap

You don't get what you don't ask for!

Cool... I didn't expect the gap to be that big!

That's just the beginning. Women also don't ask for raises as often, and when they do..they accept less.

Of course, this is all just averages based on thousands of files.

Men and women tend to be offered the same amount of money, at the beginning.

The book Business Brilliant, explains all these studies, and their results, in great detail. It was eye opening.

I observed something interesting in my time at larger corporations and then as I watched the careers of those I worked with as they went from worker, to mid level management and then on to VP status. Not a scientific study by any means but just personal experience. Here is what I noted.

On average the ladies that went through this were often keen to accept new responsibilities often without the title you would expect. I recall seeing many ladies doing jobs that did not include the title one would expect but not so much the other way around. Next, for the ladies often the tittle was received with very little in the way of added compensation. They seemed content with being in charge of new things or achieving a higher title without being particularly fixated on salary.

On average the males that went through the same process seemed to have a knee jerk reaction to new responsibility. I was part of and heard more conversations about "well they better be ready to pay for that" or "if they want me to step up there better be a raise in it and a title" if a male was the subject.

Again this is by no means a scientific study of the different psychologies and I was not exposed to a huge sample but my personal experience and impressions are that the males and females I have known have reacted very differently to moving up the chain.

It depends on the location, some women do better in different countries. Like Canada for instance, Toronto in particular has a workplace filled with women. But then again money comes second to a majority of women on this planet....