Female job candidates should think strategically about how to present
themselves when negotiating for salaries and positions. PHOTO |
FOTOSEARCH
Following millennia of hyper-defined gender roles and painful
explicit bias against women in the official and public space, women
since World War II count numerous cultural and professional successes
towards breaking down gender barriers and baseless ceilings.
While
around the world and right here in Kenya, women hold senior government
positions and sit on corporate boards in ways unthinkable a generation
ago, they are still disproportionately represented compared to men.
On
the micro level, the gap between male and female salaries in the
workplace has also reduced dramatically, but has not disappeared
entirely. Depending on the industry, women still earn between 50 per
cent and 80 per cent that of men who do the exact same job. June
O’Neill’s research shows that even when women join unions, stay
committed to an organisation longer, obtain more training, and show more
loyalty, they still earn less than men.
Unfortunately,
part of the wage disparity originates from women displaying lower
negotiating effectiveness. Women in the workplace show, on average, less
tendency towards aggressive self-serving negotiating positions and are
more accommodating to the needs of other parties. Biologically, women’s
bodies produce only a fraction of the aggression-causing testosterone
hormone which may appear to observers as outwardly politer. Then
cultural upbringing and socialisation develop steep unconscious bias in
our brains that relegate women to certain psychological categories.
Thankfully,
Harvard University social scientists Hannah Bowles and Kathleen McGinn
delineate different techniques that women may utilise to even the
playing field to negotiate at the same level as men.
First,
acknowledge that entrenched insidious unconscious bias exists against
women in the workplace. So, ladies can use it to their advantage. Female
job candidates should think strategically about how to present
themselves when negotiating for salaries and positions.
Since
unconscious bias relegates women to more social and less professional
pursuits in the minds of interviewers, then women who are aware of the
bias can capture the unfortunate expectations by communicating how they
can socially boost a work team, increase cohesion in the group, and
interact effectively with customers, as well as then highlighting their
strong specific job skill competencies for the role.
Such dual self-representation makes women far more persuasive
than just speaking about skills alone. Additionally, if women frame
their compensation and promotion requests as maintaining good working
relationships inside the organisation, then they will experience less
social risk for being viewed as aggressive .
Next,
women can boost their negotiating confidence by reducing ambiguity.
Since women are socialised to become more sensitive and caring adults,
they are more likely to not want to inconvenience a company’s leadership
with their personal professional requests. However, women hold every
right to demand what they deserve.
They should conduct
more research on pay scales and comparisons within their specific
industry in order to feel like their request stands on solid ground and
they really deserve the salary or promotion they desire. The added
knowledge propels women’s confidence to seek what is rightfully theirs.
Numerous
studies show that promoting women to management levels improves
corporate performance and that ensuring pay parity between the genders
increases motivation and feelings of fairness by female workers.
To
achieve greater equity between pay scales, women should master the
above scientific techniques to improve their negotiating power and
obtain what they deserve.
Dr Scott may be reached on scott@ScottProfessor.com or on Twitter: @ScottProfessor
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