Vancouver Sun 4 July 2008:

But women seem to be rather better at it. That’s the message from new research from Florida Atlantic University. Men and women will both attempt to use their looks and subtle flirtation to get what they want from people of the other sex. However, women seem to be more successful at doing so than men.

It’s not for want of trying, the behavior happens at the same rate in each sex. However, the women’s greater success seems to be down to evolutionary factors. In that delicate dance of picking a mate it’s the women who usually do the deciding: the decision is, in genetic terms, vastly more important for them.

It doesn’t seem unreasonable then that flirting (mimicking availability rather than actually being available) works as a negotiating technique for women better than it does for men.