Black Women Are More Unlikely To Negotiate Pay Than Black Men

A new analysis shows that 33% of Black women negotiated their pay compared to 45% of their Black male counterparts within the past two years.

The finding comes as another report shows the gender pay gap hasn’t narrowed much over the last 20 years. This analysis estimates that women earn 82% of what men make for similar work.

Compensation and pay equality have been long-standing issues between the sexes. There have been multiple studies over time because the gender wage gap keeps lingering. One belief is that the differences are tied to how women and men bargain for pay. Another notion is that women generally remain in low-paying jobs than men, another potential reason for the disparity.

ResumeBuilder.com surveyed over 1,400 full-time workers this month to learn which workers negotiated pay, their success, and what possibly restricted them. In the past two years, 49% of men versus 32% of women negotiated their salary. On getting what they wanted, 55% of men and 42% of women achieved their pursuit. Intimidation was cited as the top reason women chose not to negotiate.

For Blacks, those discoveries were statistically similar. However, unlike women, intimidation was not at the top of why Black women chose not to negotiate. They cited “worried I’d lose my job’ and ‘the offer was more than I was making previously’ as the top factors for not negotiating.”

According to ResumeBuilder.com, women mainly negotiated compensation because the offer or their current pay did not align with their value (46%). That, too, was the top reason for men (39%). Resume and Career Strategist Julia Toothacre stated that limiting beliefs and the pandemic may have influenced why fewer women negotiated.

“In my experience, women question their value more than men, which leads them to feel like they can’t ask for more. Because I work with high-performing women, there is also a fear of being too forward or seen as aggressive. This isn’t exclusive to the last two years as I’ve seen it happen since I started coaching and was a victim of it myself,” Toothacre stated.

Plus, it was reported that 5% of women versus 3% of men didn’t get close to or at all what they wanted.

Toothacre stated, “The women I’ve seen do well in negotiations are confident in themselves and their abilities. They know how to talk about their accomplishments, and they’ve done their research. They aren’t afraid of negotiating because they know their worth. It all comes back to confidence and value. It’s not that women can’t negotiate or that they are less qualified.”

Check out more findings in the report here.