Although women may financially benefit from choosing to negotiate in some cases, there are other cases in which increased negotiation can negatively impact women and result in less pay.

Affirmative action improves women’s willingness to compete.

Boys are more likely than girls to engage in competition and this gender gap affects girls’ willingness to choose math intensive tracks in their school and future careers.

Against their best interest, low-ability men compete too often, and high-ability women do not compete enough.

Women perform worse than men in competitive environments, even if they are able to perform similarly to men in the absence of competition.