In Workplace, Haggling Widens Gender Gap

Women are less likely to initiate negotiations for promotions and raises, which may help explain salary and career gaps between the genders, according to new research. "There is an economic rationale to negotiate, but you have to weigh that against social risks of negotiating,"' one researcher says. "What we show is those risks are higher for women than for men."

A second study, WaPo reports, reveals an understandable reluctance by women to strong-arm employers, who prefer docile female employees. Either way, subtle sexism appears to play a major role in the career game, even if it's sometimes from the bottom up. (More career stories.)