This study debunks a common excuse for why women get paid less

Some people explain away the gender pay gap by arguing that women get paid less than men because they aren't aggressive enough with pay negotiations. But a new Australian study found women do ask for raises about as often as men do. They just don't get them as often.

The researchers first laid out the conventional wisdom: "Women's lower propensity to negotiate over salaries, raises, or promotions could reduce their pay relative to men's," they wrote. "The observed gender difference could reflect social factors, including women being socialized to feel that they are being pushy or overbearing."

The findings blow that theory out of the water, Quartz reports: When comparing men and women with similar work hours, women asked for raises just about as often as men did. But men were about 25 percent more likely to actually get the pay boost when they asked for one.

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Further debunking the whole women-are-too-docile argument, men seemed more concerned about keeping the peace in the office than women were. While 14.6 percent of men decided not to request a raise because they were afraid of "negatively impacting their workplace environment," only 12.9 percent of women held back over the same polite concerns.