Global statistics show that the gap in salary between men and women refuses to close, and that in South Africa there are also other forms of salary discrimination.
Whereas scholars and business leaders have for many years unsuccessfully grappled with resolving the reasons for the discrepancy in salaries between men and women, a new study suggests that the solution may lie at the negotiating table.
According to the 2015 World Economic Forum global gender gap report, it is likely to take 118 years on average for women to receive equal pay to men.
In South Africa, this gap in earnings is estimated to be between 15 and 17%. The implication is that a woman would need to work two months longer than her male counterpart to earn as much in the same role.
A new report from career agency Glassdoor suggests that empowering women with stronger negotiating skills could play a crucial role in reversing this trend. Based on a study of over 500 000 salaries, Glassdoor determined that men on average earned 24.1% higher base pay than women.
However, where it was explicitly stated that salaries were negotiable, the gender gap decreased.
Glassdoor’s vice president of corporate affairs, Dawn Lyon, says: “We should focus on creating policies and programmes that provide women with more access to career development and training, such as pay negotiation skills.”
David Venter, convenor of the Negotiation Skills for Managers course at the UCT Graduate School of Business, says negotiation is a critical skill at all levels of business – and can play a doubly important role in a country like South Africa.
“In South Africa, the majority of people have been disadvantaged but are now able to apply for almost any job. Whether they succeed largely depends on how well they can negotiate. It’s vital to equip our people with the tools they need to create more win-win situations.”
However,
in repeated studies, the social cost of negotiating for higher pay has been found to be greater for women than it is for men, Hannah Riley Bowles writes in the Harvard Business Review.
Venter says the key is to understand that the need for negotiation skills applies to both parties – those on either side of the table – to produce a mutually profitable outcome.
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