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%.

Information from Leanin.org

After three years of searching multiple research hubs, academic journals, reference lists, etc., it appears here 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.

If you are a WoC considering negotiating, here are a few resources for you:

Negotiating as a Woman of Color article in Harvard Business Review

How to make a Relational Ask blog post

How to Negotiate Collaboratively blog post

If you are an ally, please see our resources for allies.