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 7%; the pay gap for Latinas is closer to 35%.

Information from Pew Research Center

When I started researching this topic in 2021, I bemoaned the lack of academic research on the topic of negotiating as a woman of color. 

Three years later, I am thrilled to share that progress is being made, thanks in part to Angelica Leigh and Sreedhari Desai of UNC. Their research shows black women achieved negotiation outcomes similar to that of white men (and higher than that of white women or black men). These researchers comment that black women may not face the high risk of backlash when behaving assertively that white women do and thus should “go play to your own strengths”. 

Hopefully soon we will have even more research not only on negotiating as a black woman, but also across other races and ethnicities. 

In the meantime, we’ve rounded up the best resources we could find.  If you have come across any that I missed, please send it to us at info@worthmorestrategies.com so we can include those going forward.

If you are a WoC considering negotiating:

• 5 Strategies for BIPOC to Negotiate Equitable Pay in Harvard Business Review
• Negotiating as a Woman of Color in Harvard Business Review
• How to Negotiate Collaboratively blog post

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