How To Reduce Women’s
Negotiation Disadvantage:
Hints From Research
Alice Eagly
Northwestern University
APS, May 2016
Women Fare Worse in Bargaining
With Economic Outcomes
• Mazei, Huffmeier, Freund, Stuhlmacher, Bilke, &
Hertel (Psychological Bulletin, 2014)
• g = 0.20 in male direction
• Used role congruity theory (Eagly & Karau, 2003)
to make sense of moderation in findings
• Agentic behaviors essential to negotiation are not
congruent with the female gender role: assertive,
competitive, profit-oriented
• Women display fewer of these behaviors
• Others regard such behaviors less appropriate in
women: May elicit backlash
Outcomes Are Variable
• Role incongruity for women decreases if the
setting becomes less incongruent
• Negotiate on behalf of someone else:
toughness becomes other-oriented
• Make situation less ambiguous: reduces
salience of gender norms in favor of
situational norms
• Learning about bargaining range
• Gain experience: know appropriate behavior,
gain a script. Women less likely to fall back on
gender norms.
How Use This Knowledge?
• Usually don’t bargain for someone else
• Sometimes do: Personnel committees; Tenure
& promotion committees
• Salary negotiation: Can reduce ambiguity by
gaining information, “asking around” about
salaries & conditions offered to others
• Experience: Yes, practice is possible.
• Role playing: Can we help one another?
• Bargain for a job that perhaps won’t take?
Bargaining Can Be Everyday
Occurrence
• Bargain for salary & conditions at outset; Bargain
for counteroffer
• Bargain for teaching load & conditions (TA
support)
• Bargain on service obligations
• Bargain on authorship on papers
• If women are nicer, less assertive and competitive
ay end up with conditions that do not enhance
career as a researcher
• In general, women spend more hours teaching
than men and fewer in research
• Is bargaining part of the reason?