Gender pay gap starts at 6, study finds, as boys ‘tend to overestimate their abilities compared to girls’

22 January 2025, 20:09

Primary school children reading in a classroom in the UK.
Primary school children reading in a classroom in the UK. Picture: Alamy

By Josef Al Shemary

A study found that schoolboys as young as six ask for bigger bonuses than girls for the same work, showing a tendency to overestimate their abilities - behaviour that could shed light on the gender pay gap in adults.

Listen to this article

Loading audio...

The pay gap between men and women has been steadily decreasing since the late 1990s, but still represents the persisting inequality between men and women in the workplace.

The gender pay gap decreased to 13.1% in April 2024, down from 14.2% in April 2023, but women are still much less likely than men to occupy senior roles or management functions, according to the Office for National Statistics.

A new study might point to one reason why this gender pay gap is so persistent, focusing on differences that emerge between boys and girls in primary school.

The study looked at the differences in attitudes towards negotiation in children, performing a number of experiments with more than 400 children between the ages of six and nine.

One of the experiments had the children participate in a game in which they had to quickly recognise pictures on a screen. Regardless of how they performed, they would be rewarded with animal photos.

After the game, the kids were told to negotiate how many pictures of animals they deserved. The researchers found that the boys asked for higher bonuses - more pictures - than the girls, even if they had performed roughly the same in the game.

And it was no small difference - boys would ask for more pictures than 65% of girls on average, pointing to a higher opinion of their own abilities.

“Our findings suggest that boys tend to overestimate their abilities compared to girls—and relative to their actual performance,” Sophie Arnold, a New York University doctoral student and the lead author of the paper, said.

“This inflated self-perception may lead boys to feel more entitled to push the boundaries during negotiations.”

Read more: 'I'd be paid more if I was Oliver,' says Olivia Colman as she slams Hollywood gender pay gap

Read more: 'Absolutely adored': Schoolboy, 12, stabbed to death in Birmingham, as teen arrested on suspicion of murder

'We can’t afford to pay the Waspis, but we can afford to pay Lords', points out caller Anne

Ms Arnold and her colleagues looked at the children’s attitudes towards negotiation, suggesting that the disparities between the children could explain the gender pay gap in adult men and women in the workplace.

In another experiment, the students were asked to complete classroom work and negotiate a bonus with a teacher, or to do neighbourhood work and negotiate bonuses with their neighbours.

In these tests, boys and girls were found to have similar perceptions of negotiations.

They thought the other children were also likely to negotiate, that it was similarly allowed to do so, that there would be little backlash if they tried negotiating, and that it would lead to similar rewards.

The difference was that the boys, on average, were more comfortable with asking for a higher bonus, and thought that if they did, they were likely to succeed. As such, they would ask for higher rewards.

The girls - who also thought negotiating was permitted and would bring about little backlash - didn’t ask for bigger bonuses.

"Boys leveraged their perceptions of how common and permissible it is to ask for more, while girls did not," said Katherine McAuliffe, professor of psychology and neuroscience at Boston College and one of the co-authors of the study.

"This meant that, for example, when both girls and boys thought it was more common and more permissible to negotiate, boys negotiated more than girls did."

More Latest News

See more More Latest News

Lucy Markovic has been described as a "bright shining light"

Next Top Model star, 27, dies after rare brain condition

Breaking
US President Donald Trump and China's Xi Jinping

China raises tariffs on US goods to 125% as Trump's trade war heats up

Allen McKenna, 47, died while on holiday in Morocco with girlfriend Majda Mjaoual

Wife, 25, of British businessman, 47, who died on holiday 'inherits everything after he converted to Islam'

File photo dated 28-09-2024 of Liverpool's Mohamed Salah who has signed a new two-year deal with Liverpool, the Premier League club have announced. Issue date: SOCCER Liverpool.

Mohamed Salah signs new two-year deal with Liverpool following months of speculation

Exclusive
Mother arrested and held in police cell for seven hours after ‘confiscating child’s iPad’

Calls for police chief to apologise after mother arrested and held in cell for ‘confiscating child’s iPad’

London, United Kingdom. 28th Jan, 2025. Rachel Reeves MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer arrives for the Cabinet Meeting at No 10 Downing Street. Credit: Uwe Deffner/Alamy Live News

UK economy grew by 0.5 per cent in February surpassing predictions

Social media boss who killed stepfather after 'losing his mind' during five-day Ibiza drug binge locked up indefinitely

Social media boss who killed stepfather after 'losing his mind' during five-day Ibiza drug binge locked up indefinitely

Horror in the Hudson: Tech boss, wife and three children die alongside pilot after helicopter plunges into New York river

Horror in the Hudson: Tech boss, wife and children die alongside pilot after helicopter plunges into New York river

'Gamechanging' drug which slows progression of incurable breast cancer available on NHS

'Gamechanging' drug which slows progression of incurable breast cancer set to be available on NHS

The proposed name change by Northop Hall Community Council is comprised of pentre - meaning 'village’ - and moch - meaning ‘pig’.

Welcome to 'Pig Village': Planned renaming of historic village causes a stink among local residents

Heavy traffic on the M25 Motorway, London.

Easter travel warning: Delays and long queues ahead as 19million drivers expected to hit the roads

XL Bullies Being Walked On Private Land After Ban

Woman sustains potentially life-changing injuries in suspected XL bully attack

All six passengers dead from helicopter crash have been confirmed dead

Horror in the Hudson: Tourist helicopter plunges into river killing pilot and family of five - including three children

Club house covered in red paint as members of group Palestine action caused damage to the Trump owned site of Trump Turnberry Golf Club in Scotland

Woman, 21, arrested over damage to Donald Trump's Scottish golf course

HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds Bank, Standard Chartered, NatWest, BNP Paribas, Santander Bank, BBVA, Crédit Agricole banking apps

UK bank to give customers free cash after major outage - find out if you're eligible

Edward Browne (left) and James Litchfield (right) were killed in a light aircraft crash

Two men in 60s killed in light aircraft crash at racetrack named and pictured