By Dr. Kate Brannum
Program Director, International Relations and Middle Eastern Studies, American Public University
This content was previously run on Kate’s profile in LinkedIn Pulse.
This is the second in a series of blogs I have written on girls’ education. Until this point, I have focused strictly on the challenges girls face to attain an education rather than the barriers they will need to overcome to make their voices heard in the workplace.
However, recent research and women’s discussions of their experiences make it clear that to address girls’ education without addressing gender-related workplace biases is problematic. Even in the United States where girls have greater opportunities for education and entrance into professional careers, they face constraints based on cultural norms. We need to consider to what extent the same girls we educate will be able to effectively draw on that education and pursue fulfilling careers.
Women in Workplace Rated Lower by Males and Females for Speaking Up During Discussions
As girls become women and enter the workforce, they discover that their voices are devalued. A 2015 New York Times article, “Speaking While Female,” discussed why women stay quiet at work. The article described a Yale University study called “Who Takes the Floor and Why: Gender, Power, and Volubility in Organizations,” in which Victoria L. Brescoll asked “professional men and women to evaluate the competence of chief executives who voiced their opinions more or less frequently. Male executives who spoke more often than their peers were rewarded with 10 percent higher ratings of competence. When female executives spoke more than their peers, both men and women punished them with 14 percent lower ratings.”
Men who speak strongly may be perceived as assertive or showing leadership, while a women is more likely to be seen as shrill, defensive or abrasive. Interestingly, both male and female professionals demonstrated this gender bias.
Women’s Performance Reviews More Likely to Contain Criticism of Their Personalities
Not only are women’s voices devalued in the workplace, but they also receive criticism that is more about their personal attributes than performance. For instance, Fortune magazine published a 2014 article entitled “The abrasiveness trap: High-achieving men and women are described differently in reviews”. The author, Kieran Snyder, looked at performance reviews in tech companies.
In her examination of 248 performance reviews, Snyder found that “Men are given constructive suggestions. Women are given constructive suggestions – and told to pipe down.” She noted that “negative personality criticism—Watch your tone! Step back! Stop being so judgmental!—shows up twice in the 83 critical reviews received by men. It shows up in 71 of the 94 critical reviews received by women.”
This gender bias is particularly difficult for individual women because they, generally speaking, do not know about the overall patterns. Therefore, a woman has no reason to doubt that the problem is with her personality and not with the workplace culture.
Women in Leadership Positions Face Gender Behavior Bias
A 2013 Harvard Business Review article by Herminia Ibarra, Robin J. Ely and Deborah Kolb explains the ‘double bind’ that women in leadership face. “Behaviors that suggest self-confidence or assertiveness in men often appear arrogant or abrasive in women. Meanwhile, women in positions of authority who enact a conventionally feminine style may be liked but are not respected. They are deemed too emotional to make tough decisions and too soft to be strong leaders.”
When women are left in this bind, it’s easy to give up. After all, it is risky to address this gender bias within the workplace. If women try to write about or even confront directly an atmosphere that subordinates women’s voices and holds women to different standards of propriety or professionalism, the response from coworkers or leaders may be defensive and angry.
The empirical evidence of gender bias is strong enough that leaders may acknowledge it as a general phenomenon. However, a woman who indicates particular cases may be perceived as ‘taking things personally,’ ‘being a troublemaker’ or ‘being overly sensitive.’
Education Should Prepare Women for Hurdles They Will Face in Business World
Perhaps this is why many female educators focus on the next generation. It can be easier and more socially acceptable to focus on hurdles to girls’ education rather than challenges to grown women’s professional success.
However, it is crucial that we at least acknowledge that this gender bias exists. The Harvard Review article notes, “We find that when women recognize the subtle and pervasive effects of second-generation bias, they feel empowered, not victimized, because they can take action to counter those effects.” So, while many of us will continue to focus on girls’ education, we must not ignore the hurdles girls will face when their education is complete.
About the Author
In 2011 and 2013, Dr. Kate Brannum was awarded the Excellence in Teaching Award for the School of Security and Global Studies. Kate received her bachelor’s degree with a concentration in international relations from James Madison College of Michigan State University. She earned her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her research focused on international compliance with norms against torture. Dr. Brannum has been working as an instructor and administrator for the last 20 years. Her current interest is international norms and human rights. She loves to teach online courses and is committed to helping her students succeed in their endeavors.
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