HMN 2024: You’ve Been Conditioned to Dislike Women

Source: Toa Heftiba / Unsplash

Your brain is powerful.

It can process a lot of information very quickly; however, it has its limits.

Heuristics

Due to these limits your brain often relies on heuristics, or mental shortcuts that help you make decisions or solve problems. You need your brain to rely on these shortcuts, as they often help you filter information to make a decision.

When I ask you to picture a football coach, orthopedic surgeon, or a firefighter, you might immediately picture a man in those roles. This is likely due to your brain relying on a representativeness heuristic—e.g., most football coaches that you have seen have been men—to quickly create a picture of what sex that person may be.

Culture

You live in a society and are likely impacted by many different cultural influences (e.g., your nationality or ethnicity). You likely hold many beliefs based on your cultural experiences. It’s likely that you, whether you actively think about it or not, have beliefs that lead you to make different judgments about an action based on the person’s gender-identity.

How would you react to your supervisor saying to you, “Why hasn’t this been completed? I need you to get this done right now”? Would it matter if the supervisor presented as male or female? It’s likely that a male supervisor would be perceived to be “no nonsense” and “assertive,” while the female supervisor would be as likely to be perceived as “rude” or “the B-word.” The societal and cultural norms you have learned throughout your life have shaped the way you view the world and who is “allowed” to behave certain ways.

It’s important to note that there are many complex layers to how women are perceived and the biases they face. These can be impacted by age, physical ability, appearance, race, and more. These intersectional biases are layered and complex. One example is motherhood. Women with and without children may be perceived differently in the workplace. Heilman and Okimoto¹ found that motherhood can hinder the career advancement of women (e.g., likelihood of getting promoted) due to the heightened association with gender stereotypes. Women who were mothers were viewed as less agentic (e.g., independent, competitive) than female job applicants who were not parents. Mothers were perceived to be just as committed to their jobs and achievement striving, but less competent.

Challenge Gender Stereotypes at Work

Heilman, Caleo, and Manzi² share several strategies to counter the impact of these negative stereotypes in the workplace, including but not limited to:

• Creating a critical mass of women within departments and teams. (Hire women for all job types!)
• Using gender-inclusive language in job titles.
• Promoting appointment and active participation of women in top management.
• Dismantling masculinity contest cultures by prioritizing collective well-being and rewarding teamwork.
• Discouraging cues in the physical work environment that explicitly or implicitly exclude women.
• Establishing offi­cial policies and guidelines that normalize behaviors for which women (but not men) are penalized.

Likability

The cultural norms we have been taught, which are often full of biases and stereotypes, and the shortcuts our brains take to make decisions, can often lead us to see women as less likable or less qualified as leaders.

In a TEDTalk, Robin Hauser³ talks about the likability dilemma women leaders face. She describes how women are less likely to be seen as both assertive and likable. Hauser describes how women are penalized when they act in ways that defy gender norms and describes the gendered expectations that “women should be kind, nurturing, helpful, supportive, deferential, while traditionally men are expected to be decisive, competent, assertive, and strong.”

Hauser encourages the following to help each of us combat these biases:

1. Speak up when you see gender bias. (Call attention to the inequity when you see it!)
2. Slow down and question yourself so you can reconsider your snap judgments. She describes that this may look like you asking yourself, “Does that woman bug me for reasons that really matter?”
3. Forget about likability. Worrying about how you are perceived may stop you.