Women are slightly more likely than men to bargain for higher pay when a job advert indicates that salary is negotiable, a study finds. But men tend more than women to ask for more money when it is not made explicit that wages can be adjusted, says Do Women Avoid Salary Negotiations? Evidence from a Large Scale Natural Field Experiment, a working paper published on 15 November by the US National Bureau of Economic Research. Researchers placed job adverts for real administrative positions in nine US cities between November 2011 and February 2012, drawing almost 2,500 respondents. They found that 11% of men and 8% of women initiated salary negotiations when the salary was fixed, whereas 24% of women and 22% of men started discussions when it was negotiable. Study co-author John List, an economist at the University of Chicago in Illinois, suspects that the pattern is probably the same for scientific research positions. “Even if a job advert says the salary is not negotiable, women should negotiate — unless they want to stay a step behind,” he says.