By this point, most women are familiar with the gender pay gap – on average, women make about 20% less than men. 

As you peel the onion back, though, we find that this average glosses over very different experiences.  The pay gap for Asian women is 13%; the pay gap for Latinas is closer to 43%.

After two years of searching multiple research hubs, academic journals, reference lists, etc., it appears there isn’t much research on negotiating as a woman of color.  Worthmore is built on about 60 solid academic studies on gender and negotiation.  When I add “race” to that, I am able to find 2, one of which starts with “There remains a dearth of research exploring the intersectionality of gender and race”. 

Clearly this is a big miss.  We know there is a gender pay gap, we know it is typically larger for women of color, and, unfortunately, we don’t have much academic research to help us find a solution. 

However, there are multiple articles written by women of color on this issue, and the advice they give is directly in line with the strategies we teach.  In fact, given the larger pay gap for women of color, it’s possible that these strategies will result in even higher gains of WoCs.

So what can we do? How can we help?

If you know of research on this topic that I may be missing, PLEASE share it!  You can email me at kathryn@worthmorenegotiations.com.

If you are a researcher, know a researcher, or are thinking of becoming a researcher… please consider this as a potential topic. The world needs it.

If you identify as a woman of color and are interested in a FREE one-hour Negotiation Strategy Session, just email me within the next 48 hours to reserve a spot at kathryn@worthmorenegotations.com.