In today’s working world, women are known to be poor negotiators compared to men. For instance, male and female MBA graduates with the same education and experience will not earn the same amount after graduating. In fact, male MBA graduates on average will earn $4,600 more than female graduates in their first job because men are able to negotiate for a better salary. When women do not push for a higher salary in the early years of their careers, the loss will compound over time and by the age of 60, women can lose more than $500,000 because they did not negotiate a first salary well. However, women are not entirely to blame for their passive negotiating skills. It was discovered that men were more interested in working with a women who accepted their compensation without a word and women who tried to negotiate for a better salary were perceived as overly demanding. This fear of being judged as an overly demanding woman leads women to under-price themselves even though their job involves more work and their expertise would benefit their employer by assisting the company generate more revenue.
Successful women can negotiate well
For women to avoid the stereotype of being poor negotiators, they must be assertive when negotiating and must not worry about how they are judged by others because in the long run, women have a lot to lose by not being demanding.