It's a myth that women ask for smaller raises because they lack confidence. Here's what's really behind the gender pay gap
- A new report from Glassdoor finds the gender pay gap isn't about women being less confident than men in asking for a higher salary, contrary to popular belief.
- Men do seek higher-paying jobs, but men and women generally seek the same percentage raises.
- However, women typically start their careers with lower salaries.
- Other research finds that, while women and men are equally likely to ask for a raise, men are more likely to receive it.
Women don't earn as much as men do because they don't ask. They don't negotiate. They don't feel as certain that they deserve a higher salary in the first place.
Or so the thinking goes.
Women working full time in the US today earn 80.7 cents for every dollar a man working full time makes, according to US Census data. But a new report from Glassdoor Economic Research debunks that myth and suggests that the so-called "confidence gap" has nothing to do with the persistence of the pay gap.
Glassdoor analyzed 426,512 salaries for full-time workers in the US, plus thousands more in other countries across the globe. (According to their analysis, women in the US earn 79 cents to men's dollar.) Results showed that men apply to jobs with salaries that are, on average, $13,635 higher, which translates to a gap of 18.3%.
When Glassdoor researchers dug beneath the surface, they found that other meaningful factors were at play. For example, the report finds that men make up a disproportionate number of applicants to more lucrative jobs and industries.
Taking these factors - which include education, experience, occupation, industry, specific company and job title, plus current salary as reported on Glassdoor - into account, the gap between how much money men and women want shrinks to 0.7%. This difference is statistically significant, meaning it's probably not a result of chance, but it's small, and the report indicates it's unlikely to be a major contributor to the overall gender pay gap.
Glassdoor did find that men and women tend to seek the same percentage raises: a median of 33.3%. In other words, everyone appears to expect decent pay hikes when they switch jobs, but they're basing their expectations on how much they make at the moment. The Glassdoor report indicates this could lead to a bigger pay gap over the course of a career because men generally start out with higher salaries.
Read more: Your salary may peak sooner than you think if you're a woman in the US
Other research finds women do ask for raises - but they're less likely than men to receive them
The Glassdoor findings fit with some other research on gender and salary expectations. A 2018 study published in the journal Industrial Relations found that men are in fact more likely to ask for a raise - but that difference disappears when you account for how many hours people have worked, i.e. work experience.
That's where things get unsettling. As the researchers describe in the Harvard Business Review, men and women are just as likely to request a pay bump, but men are more likely to have that request granted: Men who ask get a raise 20% of the time, while women who ask get a raise 15% of the time.
As for why men and women don't ask for a raise, the Industrial Relations study indicates that exactly 14% of men and 14% of women said they were worried about jeopardizing their relationships with colleagues.
Bottom line: The pay gap probably isn't about women's relative lack of confidence. That said, when you are negotiating your salary at your current job or a new one, it's important to be aware of the market rate in addition to what you currently earn. So when you do ask, you can ask for what you deserve.