It’s been thought that once industries achieve gender balance, bias will decrease and gender gaps will close. Sometimes called the “add women and stir” approach, people tend to think that having more women present is all that’s needed to promote change. But simply adding women into a workplace does not change the organizational structures and systems that benefit men more than women. Our new research (to be published in a forthcoming issue of Personnel Review) shows gender bias is still prevalent in gender-balanced and female-dominated industries.
Research: How Bias Against Women Persists in Female-Dominated Workplaces
New research examines gender bias within four industries with more female than male workers — law, higher education, faith-based nonprofits, and health care. Having balanced or even greater numbers of women in an organization is not, by itself, changing women’s experiences of bias. Bias is built into the system and continues to operate even when more women than men are present. Leaders can use these findings to create gender-equitable practices and environments which reduce bias. First, replace competition with cooperation. Second, measure success by goals, not by time spent in the office or online. Third, implement equitable reward structures, and provide remote and flexible work with autonomy. Finally, increase transparency in decision making.