A while ago, I got into an argument with a male friend of mine over the gender pay gap in the United States. On average, full-time working women in the United States earn 78 cents for every dollar their male counterparts will make. This friend argued the disparity is largely due to the fact that women simply do not ask for salary raises as often as men do. At first, I rejected this idea completely. There is no way, I thought, that such a huge wage gap could exist simply because we have not asked for more money. But I went home and looked into the idea of what is know as the “ask gap,” and it turns out there is some research to back it up.
In recent years, researchers have been looking into the ask gap. One study found men are four times as likely as women to ask for a raise. Another, which surveyed 2,000 men and women, reported that 39 percent of women said they had asked for a higher salary when starting a new job, compared with 54 percent of men. So it seems my friend was right: there is an ask gap, and it is contributing to the gender pay gap in the United States. It is worth noting, of course, that the ask gap is certainly not the only factor involved in the wage gap. Even the White House website acknowledges, “Pay discrimination is a real and persistent problem that continues to shortchange American women and their families.”
It is important to remember that the ask gap is not the only issue, but we also have to consider why that ask gap exists. No researcher can tell us exactly why women are not asking for what they deserve, but I would venture to say it has something to do with the reason women are described as pushy twice as often as men, the same reason boys get called on more often than girls in elementary school, the same reason former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gets bashed for having a “bitch face” — a criticism never used for her male opponents. This is what it means to be a woman facing modern-day sexism in the United States — you are too much of one thing or not enough of another. Even more frustrating, you can be both at once. Women are too pushy, but they are not pushy enough (at least, not enough to ask for a simple salary raise).
In addressing the ask gap, we must also consider what happens when a woman does ask. When the U.S. women’s soccer team wanted to be paid as much as the male team (whom they have consistently outperformed), asking was not enough to get the job done — they had to file a complaint with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission. When Jennifer Lawrence wrote a letter lamenting the double standards of Hollywood and demanding an end to the gender pay gap, she received enormous criticism. Many wanted to know how a Hollywood actress making millions could dare to complain about a pay gap, even though she explicitly stated, “I was saying my reality is absolutely fabulous, but it is not the reality of a lot of women in America.” A recent study showed videos of men and women asking for salary raises, using the exact same script. Viewers tended to agree that the man should be paid more, whereas they often thought the woman was being too pushy. If you want to know why women are more hesitant to request raises, look no further than the backlash so many women face when they do ask.
Other studies have pointed to a confidence gap between men and women. One, for instance, found that men were willing to apply for jobs and promotions when they felt they met 60 percent of the requirements, while women tended to apply only when they felt they met 100 percent the requirements. While the researchers point out that testosterone (more present in men than women) contributes to confidence, they also acknowledge that the confidence gap is not all about about biology. “Male and female brains are vastly more alike than they are different,” notes the article. “Moreover, each individual’s confidence level is influenced by a host of genetic factors that do not seem to have anything to do with his or her sex.” Genetically, women should not be significantly less confident than men across the board. Societal factors play a huge role in determining women’s confidence.
We need to create a workplace culture where a woman is not pushy for asking for a raise, and that culture shift has to start early. When a little girl gets called too aggressive or a know-it-all for raising her hand too much in class, that gives rise to yet another generation of women who will not demand what they deserve. The ask gap is part of the reason for the gender pay gap, but we have to start addressing the reasons for the ask gap itself. To say that women simply do not ask for more money and leave it at that is a cop-out. Look at the women’s soccer team, look at Jennifer Lawrence, look at women all over the country who work hard and expect to be rewarded for it: we’re asking. Where’s our answer?
Nora Walls is an Opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at n.walls@cavalierdaily.com.
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