Gender pay gap: Women more likely to face rejection when asking for pay hike

A new report has claimed that women are more likely to be rejected when they ask for a salary hike. The report published by Pew Research Center surveyed over 5,500 US workers and came to the conclusion that 58 per cent of men and 61 per cent of women did not ask for higher pay when they were last hired.

Of those who asked for more money, only 28 per cent had a successful strike rate in achieving it while 38 per cent said they were offered less than what they wanted but more than the initial offer. 35 per cent said they were only given what they were presented first.

However, the upshot of the survey was that women (38 per cent) were more likely than men (31 per cent) to say they were only served the initial offer. Subsequently, men were more likely than women to be satisfied with the pay they were offered — 42 per cent to 36 per cent.

Women also were more likely (42 per cent vs 33 per cent) to say they did not feel comfortable asking for more money from their employers. The younger female employees were even more likely to ask for a raise.

UK employers pay men more than women

The report by Pew comes hot on the heels of a Financial Times analysis revealing that almost 80 per cent of employers in the UK pay men more than women on average in their organisation.

The report painted the grim picture by adding that the percentage figure had worsened since the mandatory gender pay gap reporting began six years ago. The average gap between men's and women's pay stood at 12.2 per cent in 2022-23 which was an uptick from the 11.9 per cent noted in 2017-18.

The stubborn inequality persists across different sectors. The pay gap increased in transport and administration last year and remained highest amongst employers in the educational setups. The average pay gap in the sector stood at a whopping 23.2 per cent.

According to a UN report, for every dollar that a man makes across the world, a woman only makes 77 cents due to the growing pay disparity between the two genders.

(With inputs from agencies)

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