Why working women don't get what they want

Ask and you shall receive, goes the old saying.

But women don't ask -- whether for a higher starting salary, a raise, or a promotion -- and, as a result, they're not receiving.

That's the contention of the provocative new book, "Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide," by Carnegie Mellon economics professor Linda Babcock and writer Sara Laschever.

Plenty of books and articles have been written about the persistent wage gap, as the average woman working full time still earns only 73 cents for every dollar a man makes. They've focused on the "glass ceiling" or the fact that women are more likely than men to take time off for family.

But this book offers a new angle on the disparity: From their first job onward, women are less likely than men to ask for more money and promotions, resulting in a lifetime of missed opportunities and untapped potential. Not only do women lose, so does society.

The authors draw upon a wide array of research, from such disciplines as psychology, sociology, and economics, to make their case.

Among the most compelling evidence: A study by Babcock of Carnegie Mellon students graduating with master's degrees, showing that men had starting salaries almost $4,000 higher than women -- and that men were eight times as likely as women to have negotiated for more money.

That's where a lifetime of disparity begins, contend Babcock and Laschever. That few thousand dollars difference in starting salaries compounds so that over a career, women could end up earning hundreds of thousands of dollars less than men, they write.

"The net result is a huge imbalance in the distribution of resources and opportunities between men and women. Because women ask for what they want less often than men do, and therefore get what they want much less of the time, the inequities in our society, and all the problems they create, continue to pile up."

But the problem can't be solved just by offering negotiation training to women.

"This book is not simply a study of an inexplicable female failing that can be easily corrected. It is not about ways in which women need to `fix' themselves. It is an examination of how our culture -- modern Western culture -- strongly discourages women from asking for what they want," the authors say.

(While the book doesn't focus on men who don't negotiate, the implications about lost economic and leadership potential apply to them as well.)

Much of the book is spent analyzing why women tend not to ask and negotiate as much as men, and how women's approach when they do negotiate may differ from men's, in chapters with such titles as "Nice Girls Don't Ask," "Opportunity Doesn't Always Knock," and "The Female Advantage." There are plenty of footnotes and references to buttress the authors' analysis.

Don't expect to get a rundown of how to negotiate salary or a promotion from this book, however. It's not a how-to volume. There are no detailed recommendations for employers either, although the book highlights some companies that have improved their hiring and promoting practices. And the last chapter, "Negotiating at Home," seems like an afterthought.

But "Women Don't Ask" offers important insights into the persistent economic gap between men and women. It's been praised by Teresa Heinz (Babcock is professor at Carnegie Mellon's H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management), Harvard Business School's Max H. Bazerman, and Forbes magazine's Jim Berrien.