MS Legal Search held the first in a series of speakers on issues relating to women and the legal profession. This presentation by Larry Stuart, an attorney Board Certified in labor and employment law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, addressed “Gender Differences in Negotiation of Employment Terms.” His slideshow is attached here.
Current data continues to show that professional women still earn far less than men. One reason may be that during the hiring process, women continue to be far less likely to negotiate for a higher salary. Studies show that in 2007, men were nine times more likely than women to ask for more compensation when going through the hiring process. At this gathering, we considered whether the same is true of female attorneys.
The Stuart presentation explored the reasons for gender difference in negotiating with respect to women professionals generally, and then looked at how these same disparities applied equally to the legal profession. The presentation then specifically examined ways that women lawyers can effectively do what male lawyers are doing when it comes to negotiating their own salaries.
Sheryl Sandberg also addresses this issue in Lean In: Women, Work, and the will to Lead. Sandberg cites a Carnegie Mellon study that found that with respect to graduate students, 57 percent of male graduate students tried to negotiate. (In other words, eight times as many men as women asked for more morey.) Although Sandberg has found that women and men are equals when negotiating deals for others, she concludes that most women, including herself, are reluctant to negotiate for their own compensation.
Sandberg describes how two men — her husband and brother-in-law — had to advise her on how to negotiate her salary with Mark Zuckerberg for her job at Facebook. Zuckerberg made her an offer, but she “was afraid of doing anything that might botch the deal. I could play hardball, but then maybe Mark would not want to work with me.” Sandberg followed the advice of her husband and brother-in-law, and negotiated for a better deal. Sandberg’s own story underscores the real life gender differences women continue to face in leadership positions today.
Women, including herself, she writes, “have good cause to be reluctant to advocate for their own interests because doing so can backfire… when a woman negotiates on her own behalf, she violates the perceived gender norm. Both male and female colleagues often resist working with a woman who has negotiated for a higher salary because she’s seen as more demanding than a woman who refrained from negotiating.” While Sandberg recognizes the problems women face in negotiating, she also outlines her suggested options.
Sandberg advises that for women, “the goal of a successful negotiation is to achieve our objectives and continue to have people like us.” According to one expert, this involves always coming across as ”appropriately female.” Men don’t have this issue and can improve their position by appearing self interested and aggressive. Women, on the other hand, lose credibility if they act only for themselves. Women, when negotiating, should “Think personally, act communally.” In other words, Sandberg advises us to remain connected to the group and not just out for ourselves, to even “substitute ‘we’ for ‘I’…as silly as it soundspronouns matter.”
Many older professional women, especially those who have gone through the first, second and third wave of feminism, might take issue with Sandberg’s conclusions and options; however, at the most basic level, what she proves is that even at the highest levels of leadership, gender continues to matter and gender differences must be negotiated by women who want to achieve professional success.
At MS Legal Search, we have found that when women negotiate for higher salaries, they have to do so with greater caution than men. The feedback we hear from employers often echo the problems Sandberg expresses: an overall negativity about women who are too assertive when it comes to negotiating their own salary. But, what experts like Stuart and Sandberg prove is that women can negotiate and achieve positions of power and leadership, it just takes more awareness and more work. We find that women, fortunately, are up to the challenge.
If you have any further questions about these issues, or would like to discuss your views in more depth, feel free to contact Larry Stuart directly at lstuart@stuartpc.com, or Lynn Bradshaw, with MS Legal Search, LLC, at lbradshaw@mslegalsearch.com. Because of our long-term experience in this area, as well as our goal to give back to the next generation of women lawyers, MS Legal Search will launch a consulting group that will focus on women lawyers in leadership positions. We welcome the community’s participation.
On October 7, 2013, MS Legal Search will follow up with the second in this series of guest lectures, designed to help women lawyers work on the complexities inherent in advancing into leadership positions at law firms or in corporation legal departments. Cathy Nunnally of Nunnally & Company, one of Houston’s most sought after public speakers, will follow Larry Stuart’s presentation. Nunnally will speak on leadership presence and the corporate experience. Nunnally is an executive coach who works with emerging and proven corporate talent, helping women to develop the tools they need to reach their goals and grow their careers. Her website can be found here. If you are interested in attending, please contact our offices. Based on the success of our first, limited-invitation session, seating will be limited.