So if they're willing to sell themselves short and work for less (when they have just as much access to information about average salary for the field / region), how is that men's fault? Maybe when they got the offer, the economy wasn't good and they were desperate and didn't negotiate - that's just basic labor economics, not sexism. I've worked jobs where I knew that I was being paid less than average for my qualifications, but I also knew that the economy at the time was shit and I had no other offers. However, when conditions are better (such as when I obtained my current job) and I have a decent paying job already, then yes - I will push it further because worst case scenario is that I keep working at the existing job and keep searching, best case scenario I get a much bigger raise than I was expecting. Sometimes you take that gamble and lose, other times it pays out in a 25% pay increase. Just because women in general are less willing to take that sort of risk doesn't mean that men are "evil" or should be punished.