Abstract
Widely shared cultural beliefs about gender, as contained in stereotypes, continue to disadvantage women in workplace settings. Stereotypes include beliefs that women are less competent than men in many domains, which lead women to be held to higher performance standards, to face increased scrutiny and shifting criteria when being evaluated, to encounter likeability and motherhood penalties, and to lack access to powerful networks. As a result, women experience disadvantages at work, including biases in hiring, evaluation, and promotion decisions. Such biases often operate outside conscious awareness, in what some scholars term “implicit bias,” “unconscious bias,” or “second-generation bias” (Ibarra et al. in Harvard Bus Rev, 91:60–66, 2013). Organizations have engaged in bias-mitigation efforts, such as employee resource groups, unconscious bias training, and broad-scale diversity initiatives. However, such approaches to diversity can either fail or even backfire, exacerbating inequality. While some emerging research offers solutions for positive change, more research is needed to understand how organizations can decrease the effects of gender bias and achieve lasting equality in workplaces.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Acker, J. (1990). Hierarchies, jobs and bodies: A theory of gendered organizations. Gender & Society, 4(2), 139–158.
Apfelbaum, E. P., Stephens, N. M., & Reagans, R. E. (2016). Beyond one-size-fits-all: Tailoring diversity approaches to the representation of social groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 111(4), 547–566.
Benard, S., & Correll, S. J. (2010). Normative discrimination and the motherhood penalty. Gender & Society, 24(5), 616–646.
Berger, J., Hamit Fisek, M., Norman, R. Z., & Zelditch, M., Jr. (1977). Status characteristics and social interaction: An expectation-states approach. New York: Elsevier.
Bielby, W. T. (2000). Minimizing workplace gender and racial bias. Contemporary Sociology, 29(1), 120–129.
Biernat, M., & Fuegen, K. (2001). Shifting standards and the evaluation of competence: Complexity in gender-based judgment and decision making. Journal of Social Issues, 57(4), 707–724.
Budig, M. J., & England, P. (2001). The wage penalty for motherhood. American Sociological Review, 66, 204–225.
Castilla, E. J. (2015). Accounting for the gap: A firm study manipulating organizational accountability and transparency in pay decisions. Organization Science, 26, 311–333.
Catalyst. (2012). Catalyst census: Fortune 500 women executive officers and top earners. (http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/2012-catalyst-census-fortune-500-women-executive-officers-and-top-earners).
Chen, A. S. (1999). Lives at the center of the periphery, lives at the periphery of the center: Chinese American Masculinities and bargaining with hegemony. Gender & Society, 13(5), 584–607.
Cheryan, S., Plaut, V. C., Davies, P. G., & Steele, C. M. (2009). Ambient belonging: How stereotypical cues impact gender participation in computer science. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(6), 1045–1060.
Clayman Institute for Gender Research. (2015). Assessing performance and potential. See Bias Block Bias Toolkits. (https://womensleadership.stanford.edu/tools).
Conway, M., Pizzamiglio, M., & Mount, L. (1996). Status, communality, and agency: Implications for stereotypes of gender and other groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71(1), 25–38.
Correll, S. J. (2001). Gender and the career choice process: The role of biased self-assessments. American Journal of Sociology, 106(6), 1691–1730.
Correll, S. J. (2004). Constraints into preferences: Gender, status, and emerging career aspirations. American Sociological Review, 69(1), 93–113.
Correll, S. J. (2017). SWS 2016 Feminist Lecture: Reducing gender biases in modern workplaces: A small wins approach to organizational change. Gender & Society, 31(6), 725–750.
Correll, S. J., Benard, S., & Paik, I. (2007). Getting a job: Is there a motherhood penalty? American Journal of Sociology, 112, 1297–1339.
Correll, S. J., & Ridgeway, C. L. (2003). Expectation states theory. In J. Delamater (Ed.), Handbook of social psychology (pp. 29–51). New York: Kluwer Academic, Plenum Publishers.
Correll, S., & Simard, C. (2016). Research: Vague feedback is holding women back. Harvard Business Review. (https://hbr.org/2016/04/research-vague-feedback-is-holding-women-back).
Devine, P. G., Forscher, P. S., Austin, A. J., & Cox, W. T. L. (2012). Long-term reduction in implicit race bias: A prejudice habit-breaking intervention. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48(6), 1267–1278.
Dobbin, F., Schrage, D., & Kalev, A. (2015). Rage against the iron cage: The varied effects of bureaucratic personnel reforms on diversity. American Sociological Review, 80(5), 1014–1044.
Dover, T. L., Major, B., & Kaiser, C. R. (2016). Members of high-status groups are threatened by pro-diversity organizational messages. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 62, 58–67.
Duguid, M. M., & Thomas-Hunt, M. C. (2015). Condoning stereotypes? How awareness of stereotyping prevalence impacts expression of stereotypes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100, 343–359.
Eagly, A. H., & Carli, L. L. (2007). Through the Labyrinth: The truth about how women become leaders. Cambridge: Harvard Business Press.
Eagly, A. H., & Karau, S. J. (2002). Role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders. Psychological Review, 109(3), 573–598.
England, P. (2010). The gender revolution: Uneven and stalled. Gender & Society, 24(2), 149–166.
Fassiotto, M., Hamel, E. O., Ku, M., Correll, S., Grewal, D., Lavori, P. … Valantine, H. (2016). Women in academic medicine: Measuring stereotype threat among junior faculty. Journal of Women’s Health, 25(3), 292–298.
Foschi, M. (1996). Double standards in the evaluation of men and women. Social Psychology Quarterly, 59(3), 237–254.
Foschi, M. (2000). Double standards for competence: Theory and research. Annual Review of Sociology, 26, 21–42.
Galinsky, A. D., Hall, E. V., & Cuddy, A. J. C. (2013). Gendered races: Implications for interracial marriage, leadership selection, and athletic participation. Psychological Science, 24(4), 498–506.
Goldin, C., & Rouse, C. (2000). Orchestrating impartiality: The impact of ‘Blind’ auditions on female musicians. American Economic Review, 90, 715–741.
Heilman, M. E. (2001). Description and prescription: How gender stereotypes prevent women’s ascent up the organizational ladder. Journal of Social Issues, 57(4), 657–674.
Heilman, M. (2012). Gender stereotypes and workplace bias. Research in Organizational Behavior, 32, 113–135.
Ibarra, H. (1997). Paving an alternative route: Gender differences in managerial networks. Social Psychology Quarterly, 60(1), 91–102.
Ibarra, H., Carter, N. M., & Silva, C. (2010, September). Why men still get more promotions than women. Harvard Business Review, 88(9), 80–85.
Ibarra, H., Ely, R. J. & Kolb, D. (2013, September). Women rising: The unseen barriers. Harvard Business Review, 91, 60–66.
Ito, T. A., & Urland, G. R. (2003). Race and gender on the brain. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 616–626.
Kalev, A., Dobbin, F., & Kelly, E. (2006). Best practices or best guesses? Assessing the efficacy of corporate affirmative action and diversity policies. American Sociological Review, 71, 589–617.
Kanter, R. M. (1975). Women and the structure of organizations: Explorations in theory and behavior. In R. M. Kanter & M. Millman (Eds.), Another Voice. New York: Doubleday.
Kelly, E. L., Ammons, S. K., Chermack, K., & Moen, P. (2010). Gendered challenge, gendered response: Confronting the ideal worker norm in a White-Collar organization. Gender & Society, 24(3), 281–303.
Kelly, E. L., Moen, P., & Tranby, E. (2011). Changing workplaces to reduce work-family conflict: Schedule control in a White-Collar organization. American Sociological Review, 76(2), 265–290.
Livingston, R. W., Shelby, R. A., & Washington, E. F. (2012). Can an agentic black woman get ahead? The impact of race and interpersonal dominance on perceptions of female leaders. Psychological Science, 23, 346–353.
Margolis, J., & Fisher, A. (2002). Unlocking the clubhouse: Women in computing. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Martin, A. E., Phillips, K. W., & Sasaki, S. J. (2016). Reducing bias through blindness or awareness: Divergent effects of race and gender ideologies (Working Paper). Columbia: Columbia Business School.
Moen, P., Kelly, E. L., Fan, W., Lee, S. R., Almeida, D., Kossek, E. E., et al. (2016). Does a flexibility/support organizational initiative improve high-tech employees’ well-being? evidence from the work, family, and health network. American Sociological Review, 81(1), 134–164.
Moss-Racusin, C. A., Dovidio, J. F., Brescoll, V. L., Graham, M. J., & Handelsman, J. (2012). Science faculty’s subtle gender biases favor male students. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109(41), 16474–16479.
Moss-Racusin, C. A., Phelan, J. E., & Rudman, L. A. (2010). When men break the gender rules: Status incongruity and backlash against modest men. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 11(2), 140–151.
Pedulla, D. S. (2014). The positive consequences of negative stereotypes: Race, sexual orientation, and the job application process. Social Psychology Quarterly, 77(1), 75–94.
Pierce, J. L. (1996). Gender trials: Emotional lives in contemporary law firms. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Putnam, R. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Reskin, B. F. (2000). The proximate causes of employment discrimination. Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, 29(2), 319–328.
Reskin, B. F., & McBrier, D. B. (2000). Why not ascription? Organizations’ employment of male and female managers. American Sociological Review, 65(2), 210–233.
Richardson, E. V., Phillips, K. W., Rudman, L. A., & Glick, P. (2011). Double jeopardy or greater latitude: Do black women escape backlash for dominance displays? (Working Paper). Evanston: Northwestern University.
Ridgeway, C. L. (1993). Gender, status and the social psychology of expectations. In P. England (Ed.), Theory on gender, feminism on theory. Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Ridgeway, C. L. (2011). Framed by gender: How gender inequality persists in the modern world. New York: Oxford University Press.
Ridgeway, C. L., & Kricheli-Katz, T. (2013). Intersecting cultural beliefs in social relations: Gender, race, and class binds and freedoms. Gender & Society, 27(3), 294–318.
Rivera, L. A., & Tilcsik, A. (2016). Class advantage, commitment penalty: The gendered effect of social class signals in an elite labor market. American Sociological Review, 81(6), 1097–1131.
Rudman, L. A. (1998). Self promotion as a risk factor for women: The costs and benefits of counter stereotypical impression management. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 629–645.
Rudman, L., & Glick, P. (2001). Prescriptive gender stereotypes and backlash toward agentic women. Journal of Social Issues, 57(4), 743–762.
Schein, V. E. (2001). A global look at psychological barriers to women’s progress in management. Journal of Social Issues, 57(4), 675–688.
Sellers, P. (2012). Fortune 500 women CEOs hits a milestone. Fortune. (http://fortune.com/2012/11/12/fortune-500-women-ceos-hit-a-milestone/).
Shih, M., Pittinsky, T. L., & Ambady, N. (1999). Stereotype susceptibility: Identity salience and shifts in quantitative performance. Psychological Science, 10(1), 80–83.
Smith-Lovin, L., & McPherson, M. (1993). You are who you know: A network approach to gender. In P. England (Ed.), Theory on gender, feminism on theory (pp. 223–251). Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Steinpreis, R. E., Anders, K. A., & Ritzke, D. (1999). The impact of gender on the review of the curricula vitae of job applicants and tenure candidates: A national empirical study. Sex Roles, 41(7), 509–528.
Thébaud, S., & Taylor, C. J. (2016). The ‘Women Always Fail’ thing: The specter of motherhood and its influence on the career aspirations of young scientists and engineers (Working Paper).
Thomas, D. A., & Creary, S. J. (2009). Meeting the diversity challenge at PepsiCo: The Steve Reinemund Era. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing.
Uhlmann, E. L., & Cohen, G. L. (2005). Constructed criteria: Redefining merit to justify discrimination. Psychological Science, 16(6), 474–480.
Wilkins, C. L., Chan, J. F., & Kaiser, C. R. (2011). Racial stereotypes and interracial attraction: Phenotypic prototypicality and perceived attractiveness of Asians. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 17, 427–431.
Williams, C. L., Muller, C., & Kilanski, K. (2010). Gendered organizations in the new economy. Gender & Society, 26(4), 549–573.
Wynn, A. T., & Correll, S. J. (2018). Puncturing the pipeline: Do technology companies alienate women in recruiting sessions? Social Studies of Science, 48(1), 149–164. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0306312718756766.
Yoshino, K., & Smith, C. (2013). Uncovering talent: A new model of inclusion. Deloitte University Leadership Center for Inclusion.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wynn, A.T., Correll, S.J. (2018). Combating Gender Bias in Modern Workplaces. In: Risman, B., Froyum, C., Scarborough, W. (eds) Handbook of the Sociology of Gender. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76333-0_37
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76333-0_37
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-76332-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-76333-0
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)