SWE - Spring 2008 - (Page 69) BOOK REVIEWS Women Don’t Ask Negotiation and the Gender Divide Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever Princeton University Press (2003) ISBN: 0-691-08940-X REVIEW BY BARBARA BOGUE, SWE EDITORIAL BOARD merican men are still outstripping women when it comes to salaries. Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever discuss why and, better yet, what women can do to improve the situation in their book, Women Don’t Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide. The title says it all: Men negotiate and women don’t. The authors undertook interviews with a variety of men and women and mined research in economics, organizational behavior, psychology, and sociology to uncover basic differences in the way that women and men approach career advancement. Women, socialized to wait for recognition and to maintain peace in group situations, are less effective negotiators when it comes to their own advancement. he authors identify real barriers resulting from the way that corporations and institutions are structured as well as the counterproductive individual inhibitions that result from gender socialization: women worry about endangering relationships and so are reluctant to ask for change, are socialized to wait to be recognized and rewarded, and are reluctant to demand recognition for their work because society often frowns on assertive women. Women are more reluctant to negotiate whether it is at the entry level or later in their careers, resulting in lower salaries, lower expectations, and stymied careers. Babcock and Laschever go beyond theory and analysis to offer practical tips on how to ask for, and get, what A you want and how to identify and deal with institutional inequities. They highlight the unspoken biases and unfounded assumptions that women face in the workplace and offer tactical ways to respond. While Women Don’t Ask is academic rather than popularly written, it is well worth the effort. Readers come away with an overview of the problem, practical solutions, and an effec- tive argument for the need for institutional/corporate change. Barbara Bogue is a member of the SWE Magazine editorial board and a faculty member at Penn State University. She specializes in developing assessment tools that determine program effectiveness. She received the U.S. Presidential Award, Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring in 2004. Any place. Any time. Online. Earn a master’s degree through UF’s Electronic Delivery of Graduate Engineering program while keeping your life havoc free. You will earn the same degree as if you were sitting in a UF classroom. Go ahead — give yourself the UF EDGE. T Master of Science Degrees Civil Engineering Computer & Information Science & Engineering Electrical & Computer Engineering Environmental Engineering Sciences Industrial & Systems Engineering Materials Science & Engineering Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering 1.877.8UFEDGE ufedge@eng.ufl.edu www.ufedge.eng.ufl.edu SWE SPRING 2008 69 http://www.ufedge.eng.ufl.edu
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