Four Ways Women Face Discrimination at Work: And How to Fight Them
In workplaces all across the country, subtle forms of discrimination go undetected, and unaddressed. Managers, supervisors, and coworkers can make their job sites better for everyone by fighting back against gender bias at the office, or on the line.
In this blog I will review the American Bar Journal’s article entitled “4 common patterns of bias that women face at work–and how you can correct them.” I will explain what managers and coworkers can do when they see these four common types of gender discrimination at work.
Feminist Legal Scholar Shares Tips for Fighting Discrimination at Work
Feminist legal scholar Joan C. Williams at the University of California’s Hastings College of Law and her daughter Rachel Dempsey co-authored a book What Works for Women at Work. The publication gives female employees practical solutions to the implicit bias they experience every day at work. According to the book’s summary on Amazon.com:
Often women receive messages that they have only themselves to blame for failing to get ahead—Negotiate more! Stop being such a wimp! Stop being such a witch! What Works for Women at Work tells women it’s not their fault. The simple fact is that office politics often benefits men over women.
Williams and Dempsey interviewed 127 successful working women and put together a toolkit based on 35 years of research in combating established gender norms. The work got the attention of the American Bar Association, which has been addressing the lack of diversity and gender equality in the legal industry. In its article on Williams’s work, the ABA noted:
There’s no shortage of discussion about lack of diversity in the workplace, especially the legal profession. But solutions to the diversity problem and ways to combat implicit bias are harder to come by.
Here four common problems women come up against in the workplace, and some solutions Williams suggests.
Women and Minorities Are Asked to Prove It Again
Women in male-dominated industries are often asked to reestablish their credentials with supervisors in order to get the credit they deserve. Williams labels this “Prove-It-Again.”
What Prove-It-Again Looks Like
An employee being asked to “prove it again” may find her ideas being echoed by, and credited to, others. For example, a woman may recommend a meeting idea, only to have it ignored. But when a man later repeats that idea, it gets action.
How to Fight Back Against Prove-It-Again Bias
If you notice women’s ideas being ignored or attributed to men, give credit where it is due. Williams suggests correcting the gender bias by saying, “I’ve been pondering that ever since Pam first said it.”
Women Walk a Tightrope Between Professionalism and Gender Expectations
Subtle implicit gender bias often influences the assignment of duties. When “women’s work” falls disproportionately on female employees, it causes them to walk a “tightrope” between masculine and professional behaviors and the expectation of what it means to be feminine.
What a Tightrope Situation Looks Like
Tightrope situations happen when women are expected to take on housekeeping and secretarial duties not normally a part of their job descriptions. It could include planning the company party, taking notes during a conference, or cleaning up after a meeting.
How to Fight Back in a Tightrope Situation
To keep these tasks from falling unfairly on women employees, suggest establishing a rotation or assigning these tasks to assistants or support staff. This will make better use of professional women’s time and respect their expertise.
Women Are in a Tug of War Between Their Work and Their Womanhood
When women become identified as a minority, it can make them representatives of their entire sex. This places them in a tug of war between their loyalty to their work and their identity with their gender.
What a Tug of War Looks Like
A “tug of war” often happens when a female employee is called out as a woman and asked “What do women think?” By being made the “token woman” and being asked to speak on behalf of their gender, female employees are forced to put their professional identities aside. They are reduced to the stereotypes of their gender.
How to Fight Back Against Tug of War Situations
Williams encourages managers and co-workers to be on the look out for tokenism. By making sure there isn’t a pattern of placing just one woman on a committee or team, a supervisor can prevent that woman from having to speak for all women in the course of professional debate.
Women Face a Maternal Wall in Advancement
The “maternal wall” puts women in the tough spot of choosing between their families and their careers. When an employer makes decisions about a woman’s commitment based on her children, gender discrimination is a natural result.
What a Maternal Wall Looks Like
When an employer uses family commitments as an excuse not to promote a woman or give her prestigious assignments, it creates a maternal wall. Whenever child care issues or possible impact on an employee’s family is part of an employment decision, it raises red flags.
How to Fight Back Against a Maternal Wall
It can be difficult to fight back against “maternal wall” policies informally. Williams recommends asking “I wonder if we’d say the same thing about a man.”
Family status is a protected class under state and federal employment discrimination lawsuits. If adverse employment decisions are based on a person’s pregnancy, marital status, or the fact that she has children, she may be entitled to file a gender discrimination or pregnancy discrimination claim. Encourage the employee facing the “maternal wall” to talk to an employment discrimination attorney to explore her options in and out of court.
At Eisenberg & Baum, LLP, we know the subtle signs of gender discrimination. We can help coworkers and the victims of discrimination work together to change the culture of their workplace. When that doesn’t work, we can take the matter to court to force employers to treat all their employees based on their credentials, instead of their gender. If you or a coworker are facing gender discrimination at work, contact Eisenberg & Baum, LLP, to schedule a free consultation.