Women are being punished for being forceful, and it’s costing them in several ways. According to a new study by New York Times bestselling authors, Joseph Grenny and David Maxfield, a woman’s perceived competency drops by 35% and her perceived worth falls by $15,088 when she is judged as being forceful or assertive. Compared to the drop that men experience when being judged as forceful –22% in perceived competency and $6,547 in perceived worth – the gender bias is evident.
“This is the hardest kind of sexism to address because it’s not overt, it’s covert. Few of us are aware that we hold this double standard,” Grenny said in a video about the study.
Maxfield added, “The unfortunate truth is, that women are judged more harshly than men when they’re forceful.”
These biases reminded me of report earlier this year for Fortune.com where linguist Kieran Snyder looked at employee evaluations to see if she could quantify the double standards in the ways that male and female employees are evaluated. Her findings were startling, as it found that it wasn’t performance that was drawing negative feedback in many instances as much as it was personality. “Abrasive” appeared 17 times to describe 13 different women, but the word never appeared in men’s reviews.
When people, especially women, speak up, they experience a backlash. That means women need to change the ways they are being perceived. Women have difficulty getting their ideas and opinions heard, which in turn impacts their credibility and ability to advance in the workplace. But how to make that change? As always, awareness is key. Grenny and Maxfield found that simply adding a statement to explain intent before the content can help a woman dramatically improve the way people perceive her, reducing her negative perception by 27%.
Awareness needs to be taken all the way to an executive level. Some have suggested simply educating managers, while others have found that an across the board approach is more effective. Companies that recognize and embrace gender diversity in the C-Suite create more revenue, customers, market share, and profits.
As my Leading Women co-author Linda Rendleman says, “Our stories are singular, but our passions are shared.” The workplace is changing rapidly, as is the world. As women step into their own power, and reach out to help other women, the status quo will inevitably change. We create our greatest impact when we work together; this is how we will transform the way we are perceived and make our voices heard.
Gender Bias Still At Play In The Workplace
