Women are not shy in asking for a pay rise.

It has been assumed in the past that women may be reluctant to ask for pay rises and that is why they miss out. But now new research from Cass Business School, the University of Warwick and the University of Wisconsin reveals that women ask for a rise just as often as men but men are 25% more likely to get one.

The study 'Do Women Ask? chose a random sample of 4,600 workers across more than 800 employers and managed to disprove the theory that women hold back so not to annoy their boss.

Co-Author, Andrew Oswald, Professor of Economics and Behavioural Science at the University of Warwick states ' We didn't know how the numbers would come out. Having seen these findings, I think we have to accept that there is some element of pure discrimination against women'.

The research uses data gathered in the Australian Workplace Relations Survey (AWRS) during 2013-14, this is because it is the only country in the world to collect systematic information on whether employees have asked for a rise, according to Oswald.

However, Dr Amanda Goodall, Co-author of the research at Cass Business School, thinks there is a positive note, that young females are '

negotiating their pay and conditions more successfully than older women and perhaps that will continue as they become more senior'.