I had a similar experience when I was at my last job; a woman and I were being hired for two open spots in a development group, and she was being offered $3,000 less than me(not sure why, especially since she had a Master's whereas I just had a bachelor's). I found this out from the recruiter who was trying to place me, as I had tried to negotiate for another $5k over the offer, but they wouldn't budge since the other person was already $3k under me. I had no way of reaching out to her to try to get her to go higher, too :)