L
Catalyst | Last Word
“When women appear self-confident
and authentic, they are successful
but are not liked”
When women appear self-confident and authentic,
they are successful but are not liked. There is a
backlash. The way to override this is to show that
you are still a woman – nurturing and helping. This
extra requirement is an unwritten rule.
Another finding is that men can gain influence
even when they have no personal warmth and don’t
care about the social side of leadership. This can
create an unhealthy culture.
still expected to fulfil this unwritten requirement
of having positive social qualities. This is a double-
standard. If organisations want this emphasis on
social qualities, then having a caring and inclusive
culture is important. They have to measure the
behaviour of their employees in this regard, and
reward people accordingly: both men and women.
Organisations should think carefully about the
qualities needed for success and include a broad
portfolio of skills beyond technical expertise and
being effective, disseminating fact sheets to this
effect among all their employees. If warmth and
nurturing are desired, then HR should make this
explicit for men and women, during the selection
process and in evaluations.
How did you measure confidence? Should organisations focus more
on men’s social qualities?
Is this true of all sectors? Might the younger generations
challenge these stereotypes?
We spoke to supervisors and others who had
frequent interactions with our participants. For
example, we asked them to what extent they
thought the person they were evaluating was
confident in their ability to succeed in their job.
We’re talking here about STEM and
male-dominated professions, but this is a very
conservative test. In the organisation we studied,
the proportion of women was 23-25%. In
organisations with more women, I think this gender
stereotyping would still be prevalent. But we need
to do more research to understand it better.
How is this bias affecting women’s
chances of promotion?
If someone performs well, they are more likely to
be promoted. However, if both men and women
are performing to the same standard, women are
Absolutely. If we want an inclusive workplace, it has
to be inclusive for all. There are not that many case
studies, but among the technological companies,
Pinterest is doing a lot to go in this direction.
If you read some of the studies that were published
in the 1970s, it seems that there has always
been a clash between young people entering an
organisation and the senior people within it.
People’s values tend to change across their lifespan.
I’m not convinced that the values of the millennials
are that far off those of other generations in the
past. Stereotypes have an evolutionary advantage.
We need them to navigate our social interactions.
Problems arise when these create unfair systematic
biases within organisations. I’m not saying that the
stereotypes are going to disappear, but that we need
to understand and manage them better.
What first steps can firms take
to overcome this bias?
They can increase transparency, committing to
goals publicly, stating where they currently stand
and where they would like to be. This is a starting
point for triggering some action.
“I’m not saying that the stereotypes are
going to disappear, but that we need to
understand and manage them better”
Issue 3 - 2019
69