Paycheck Politics: Women vs. Men

Nov. 1, 2007 — -- From running companies to running for president, women are on the way to catching up with men in positions of power. Where they aren't catching up is on their paychecks. On average, women still make just 77 cents on the dollar compared to men.

Two issues are at fault: women's uneasiness with negotiation and the perceptions of women versus men in terms of likability and clout.

We went undercover with a "GMA" Behavior Lab to find out what goes on behind those closed corporate doors when it comes to women asking for their fair share. We also took a look at how assertive women are perceived in comparison to assertive men.

Two actors -- one male, one female -- played job applicants with identical resumes, going for the same job. Volunteers watched their interviews -- scripted so as to be exactly the same -- during which both ask for more money. The volunteers are asked the following questions: a) Do they think the applicant would be a good worker? and b) Would they hire that person?

The results: The volunteers were 30 percent less likely to hire the woman than the man. The reason: She's too demanding and pushy, even though she said exactly the same things as her male counterpart.

When asked to explain their responses, the evaluators who were more critical of the woman applicant than the man told me that they're people with opinions just like you and me. We're so quick to blame employers for gender bias, but the three people in our experiment weren't given any criteria in which to judge the applicants. Their responses are a product of nature or nurture -- or both.

There's something within each of us that says women shouldn't be so assertive, but it's OK for men to be firm about what they want.