Why women often sell below value…
Whether in salary negotiations or in professional life itself, women often sell themselves below value. A survey of 500,000 workers by IG Metall even found that one in four women is employed below their actual qualification. In salary negotiations, women usually mention a salary that is at the lower limit of the range.
According to the latest surveys by the German Federal Statistical Office, women earn on average 21% (unadjusted pay gap) and 6% (adjusted pay gap) less than men. Women are much less likely than men to be found in management positions, even though they have equivalent or higher qualifications. The reasons for this are a complex interplay of social norms and psychological reasons. In the blog post, we’ll go into more detail about the psychological reasons and tell you how you can get more out of your career in the future!
Women are often risk-averse & safety-oriented
The Big Five factors of personality are an important tool in psychological research. This model can explain why people react differently in the same situation. The Big Five model provides information about a person’s personality and includes the five categories of openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, tolerability and neuroticism. One study found that women and men differ edceivism, especially in two categories – tolerability and neuroticism. The tolerability, which consists of facets such as empathy, consideration and altruism, is more pronounced in women. But women also have higher scores in the category of neuroticism, which is made up of emotional lability and vulnerability. Women are often more empathetic, considerate and helpful. They are considered less aggressive, risk-averse and more emotional than their male counterparts.
These expressions on the Big Five scale can also explain why women often sell below value in pay negotiations and in professional life. Men like to take risks in salary negotiations. You demand higher salaries and poker to achieve your desired salary. Women are more security-oriented and usually mention a salary at the lower limit of the range in salary negotiations. Due to their high tolerability, women are generally more cautious and considerate. They don’t want to alienate their counterparts in the salary negotiations. Many women are often unaware of how much they can actually ask for. However, it must be stressed once again that the differences between men and women in these personality traits are much smaller when the differences are implicitly collected in association tests. This suggests that in our self-assessment we are significantly influenced by stereotypes and social expectations.
Stereotypes shape our self-image
Many researchers now assume that the supposed sex differences are fully educated. After all, from an early on, we women are always taught to be good and humble. On the other hand, typical “male” associated characteristics such as aggressiveness, self-confidence and risk-taking are often denied to us. If we behave furiously or aggressively, this usually has unpleasant consequences for women, while men are more likely to be rewarded for it. The social role expectations eventually pass into our flesh and blood and suddenly these stereotypes will take over. Of course, empathy, consideration and altruism are valuable skills. However, women need to learn that it is also perfectly okay to be proactive, to apply thick and to be less modest. In coaching, women learn how to be more confident in your professional life and question the gender roles.
If you would like to learn more about coaching, please contact us.
sources:
https://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article130344432/Jede-vierte-Frau-verkauft-sich-unter-Wert.html
https://www.destatis.de/DE/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/2020/12/PD20_484_621.html
