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What's in the salary slip?

Do women lack salary negotiating skills? GEETA PADMANABHANfinds out

Women, Work and Wages: Equal Pay for Jobs of Equal Value states, "In the United States today, wage differentials are a reality." Women working full time - not part-time, not on maternity leave, not as consultants - earn only 77 cents to a full-time workingman's dollar. In Britain, thirty years after the Equal Pay Act, (reported BBC), on average, for every £1.00 a man earns, a woman gets only 82p across both the public and private sectors.

The Australian government has released the Equal Pay Handbook designed to help employers implement the equal remuneration law. In India, not-at-all-same pay structures affect women at every economic level, from construction/farm workers to shop assistants and domestic help, to lawyers, cashiers and CEOs. For decades women's groups have tried verbally to close the wage gap.

Reading straight and between lines, you'd get the unmistakable impression that women are unfairly overlooked and underpaid. Among the reasons floated across the oceans are the "mommy penalty" — the assumption that once they have children, female employees begin to prioritise time and thought for day-care drop-offs over next-quarter deliverables. Women take time off to care for children or elderly parents (and lose seniority). Women accept lower pay in return for more flexible working arrangements.

A major one could be: Women don't negotiate salaries as well as men. Is this true?

Regrettably yes, felt Latha Rajan, Director, Ma Foi. "The reason is that they are not conditioned to demand — many a times there is a feeling they need a certain flexibility and hence they don't negotiate. Though they can deliver equally well, there is a fear that if they negotiate too much the organization will also demand a lot."

Linda Babcock, the Carnegie Mellon University economics professor surveyed M.B.A. students who graduated in 2002 and 2003 and found that those who negotiated received 7-8per cent more than what they were initially offered. And of those two graduating classes, 52 per centof the men negotiated, compared to only 12 per centof women. "Women leave a lot of money on the table," said Babcock, who co-authored the book, Women Don't Ask.

"Women like being valued. For them the atmosphere at work and relationship with the company count for more," said Sudha Ravishankar who joined the workforce post-forty. Women don't always work to earn a packet. The reasons are unprofessional — we come out to evolve, to be ourselves. It is not that we can't negotiate; we don't make that an issue. Pay is incidental.

Shashi Ravichandran, Head, Corporate Affairs at Scope International, says, "Diffidence and unquestioning acceptance are cultural factors, right? Women may also look beyond dollars and cents at the total package, at recognition and ops to grow. In the south we tend to be fatalistic, happy with what we get." Lacking aggression is not a plus point in a competitive market, she warned. "Employers expect you to do the homework, know what your skills are worth in each industry."

"I'm the right person for this question," laughed Vidhyaa M, Senior Manager at Murugappa Group, agreeing that women could do with tuitions for discussing pay packages.

She cited several reasons for this slip-up in self promotion. Women undersell themselves because talking money is considered bad. Relative to men, a woman's self-concept is low. They nurse an underlying guilt about marriage and work. The general theory that women put in fewer hours at work. Women who do ask for more are seen as pushy, even by today's younger generation. "I never negotiated my salary," she said. "Someone happened to glance at my pay slip, said `You deserve more' and gave me a pay hike. It may not happen to all women."

Avis, CEO, Image Equity was appalled the gender debate should extend to something as mundane as bargaining over salaries. "I have seen women use strong negotiating skills from both sides of the table. Go to the IT sector to check out their self-marketing skills. They have evolutionary, inbuilt social graces that they use to great advantage."

As managers too, they are excellent in negotiating employee remuneration. Kavitha HR at Axis V bows in the general direction of Avis. "Who told you they don't have skills?" she asked. "Ok, they may have certain inhibitions, and sometimes they may be forced to accept less because of heavy competition. But they certainly have the talent, in fact better than men, in the art of settling the compensation."

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