3 of the Most Common Challenges Women Face in Negotiations

Researchers interviewed 84 women about how they experience everyday negotiations. They discovered three unique challenges women face during these interactions: balancing agentic and communal concerns, managing emotions, and overcoming resistance. Such challenges acknowledge that women and men experience negotiations differently, and show that gender stereotypes underpin women’s experiences (both in how they perceive negotiations and are perceived as negotiators). But they are not insurmountable. With careful advance planning, women can learn to better manage difficult emotions, come to the table resistance-ready, and actually get what they want.