It’s 2020, and that means it’s about time that women feel like equals in the workplace. Yet, they still don’t feel that way, with salary disparities, sexual harassment and insufficient family leave policies still being major issues.
However, if we push the bigger problems aside, workdays are also filled with small and subtle reminders that the work environment wasn’t originally designed with women in mind. From the lack of purse hooks in bathrooms to lockers that are the perfect size to fit men’s blazers, office environments are often still a man’s world.
What Exactly is Sexism
Defining workplace sexism can often be tricky. People tend to jump to harassment and pay discrimination immediately, but what they don’t look at is the grey area in between. To make it easier, let’s split it into two types:
Overt Sexism
Overt sexism is the more serious form. It’s the sexism that makes the headlines, like the scandals in Congress, and the highly publicised gender pay gap in Hollywood. Here, it’s all black and white. It’s easier to distinguish between right and wrong. Unwanted sexual advances or harassment are examples of overt sexism.
Latent Sexism
On the other hand, latent sexism delves deeper into the grey area, and this is where things get more complicated. This type is so ingrained in company culture that it often passes by unnoticed, like “harmless” seixst jokes.
What makes people treat women differently? What’s the underlying reason behind their actions?
To understand this, let’s take a look at two gender biases that are prevalent in office culture:
- Descriptive bias
This bias ascribes certain qualities to women. Women are supposed to be emotional, caring, sensitive,warm; these are traits consistently used to describe women for decades. Left alone these traits do not have negative connotations, of course, but when a woman performs a job traditionally held by men, these can become extremely harmful.
This is where the male descriptive stereotypes come into play; these include competent, assertive, decisive, rational and objective. When managers have little to no information about what an employee or candidate is actually like, they fill in the knowledge gap with these descriptive stereotypes, mostly to the detriment of women.
- Prescriptive bias
The second major form of gender bias is prescriptive. In this case, women who do make it to the top and claim a traditionally male position are seen to have violated their prescribed norms. For example, when a woman who is expected to be compassionate acts forcefully, instead of being called “decisive” like her male counterpart, she would be labelled “bossy” or “uncaring.”
In this case the empirical evidence is also overwhelming. Studies have found that women who succeed in male domains are disliked, as they have violated the expectation of incompetence.
Women who express anger are given lower status, as they have violated the expectation of warmth.
Women who promote themselves are less hirable, as they have violated the expectation of modesty.
And women who negotiate for higher pay are penalized, as they have violated the expectation of passivity.
The issue is not whether they are that way or not. The issue is that men and women are probably behaving the same but women are taking a hit, while men are not.
A New York research team sent science faculty at some top universities applications for a lab manager position. The resumes were identical, apart from the name, which was either male or female. Yet the faculty still rated the male candidate as more competent and hirable than the women, even proposing higher starting salaries.
What Can We Do to Prevent This
At a national level, Indian companies have to disclose gender achievements as well as the percentage of women in senior management.
At a company level, enhancing accountability for a decision can eliminate the gaps filled by descriptive and prescriptive biases.
And at an individual level, women have to stand up for themselves.
Never Settle for Double Standards
For instance, if your boss calls all your male coworkers by their last names but calls you by your first, speak up. Ask why. This brings perspective into the situation, forcing the offender to consider their actions publicly.
Find Allies in the Workplace
If there are other women in the office, speak to them about their own experiences. If it’s clear that there’s an underlying issue with company culture, it’s worth bringing up to your human resources department. But an ally plays a bigger role than just listening. The most crucial factor is to build power in numbers. A true ally will join you if you protest.
HR is There to Help
Human Resources are there for a reason. Consult them. If you feel like women aren’t getting adequate representation in the office, suggest organizing a women’s monthly panel to discuss probably changes that can be made. Companies like Nike have instituted these to encourage diversity in the workplace.
It’s unfortunate that women have to be told to fend for themselves. It feels as wrong as blaming a rape victim for provocative clothing, when it’s the aggressor who should be condemned. It’s not women who should be taught what to do, but men who should be taught what not to do.
The sad reality is, until equality is established, we women have to keep fighting, so that the women of tomorrow never have to go through this.
