What Was that About the Squeaky Wheel?

GTO gets a lot of questions from female scientists asking about gender equity in the workplace. This Washington Post story has some insight: Economist Linda Babcock began studying gender differences in asking for pay raises or promotions after a group of female doctoral candidates complained that they were all teaching assistants while their male colleagues were actually teachers, says the article. The difference? The men had gone to the dean to get a better job, while the women waited for an offer to come along. Since then, Babcock found that a greater percentage of men than women will ask for more money when negotiating starting salaries, snowballing into greater lifetime earnings. And those women who do ask for more are viewed as "less nice."