The sex difference boils down to:
Fewer hours worked
Lower paying industries
Less education/credentials/experience
Taking more time off
And like you said, negotiation.
There are also industries where women get paid MORE - there are reports that women earn more overall in their 20s, before they've taken off time to be a mother and so on - link. Every engineering company wants to boast of having female engineers, so they get bid up. Or the men can't get jobs at all - look at the service industry where store managers would not even consider hiring a man. Of course, there's no way to prove it, but everyone knows it happens. I understand why they do it, and it shouldn't be barred, but neither should pro-male discrimination. Plus if she's really desperate, she could always get a Mormon sugar daddy who won't even fuck her. Try that as a dude.
You're generally supposed to avoid negotiating until you have the job offer, though you can request a salary range just to make sure they're not wasting your time. If you ask for a little too much after you have the job offer, they will rarely retract the job offer outright - they'll just tell you you're asking too much.
As for the extra vacation, plenty of companies have very set corporate policies that are standard across the entire company. You have to figure out what can be changed for you and what can't. Usually salary is negotiable, although for entry levels sometimes nothing at all is negotiable.
Fewer hours worked
Lower paying industries
Less education/credentials/experience
Taking more time off
And like you said, negotiation.
There are also industries where women get paid MORE - there are reports that women earn more overall in their 20s, before they've taken off time to be a mother and so on - link. Every engineering company wants to boast of having female engineers, so they get bid up. Or the men can't get jobs at all - look at the service industry where store managers would not even consider hiring a man. Of course, there's no way to prove it, but everyone knows it happens. I understand why they do it, and it shouldn't be barred, but neither should pro-male discrimination. Plus if she's really desperate, she could always get a Mormon sugar daddy who won't even fuck her. Try that as a dude.
Quote: (02-17-2011 08:00 PM)speakeasy Wrote:
Quote: (02-17-2011 07:19 PM)oldnemesis Wrote:
Same here. In every company I worked for so far in USA I always got four week paid vacation. Apparently it is much easier to negotiate a longer vacation than extra $10K in salary. Then the guys ask how come I got four weeks, and my question was, like, did you ever ask? and they always say "no". Well, it is like sex - if you ask, you may or you may not get one. But if you don't ask, you won't get one for sure. No surprise.
I think that's only going to work if the unemployment rate for your particular sector is very low. Or if you have some niche that's difficult to fill. The average person with an average job is easily replaceable in this shitty economy so getting really demanding at an interview may not be the best strategy for everyone. You have to access your own leverage in the job market and take it on a case by case basis.
You're generally supposed to avoid negotiating until you have the job offer, though you can request a salary range just to make sure they're not wasting your time. If you ask for a little too much after you have the job offer, they will rarely retract the job offer outright - they'll just tell you you're asking too much.
As for the extra vacation, plenty of companies have very set corporate policies that are standard across the entire company. You have to figure out what can be changed for you and what can't. Usually salary is negotiable, although for entry levels sometimes nothing at all is negotiable.