Women at Work

Sexism Is Everywhere

Dec 4, 2023

This podcast explores the prevalence of sexism in workplaces, including biased assignments and unequal opportunities. It discusses strategies for recognizing and responding to bias, the impact of gender bias on feedback, navigating email communication challenges, and the concept of self-gaslighting. The importance of trust, intuition, and recognizing reality is also explored, along with tips for handling sexist incidents.

47:45

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Quick takeaways

Recognizing and addressing bias can lead to personal growth and promote fairness in professional environments.

Trusting one's gut instincts is essential in recognizing and addressing potential bias, advocating for fairness and discussing concerns in a constructive manner promotes a more inclusive and equitable workplace environment.

Deep dives

Navigating workplace sexism and bias

Sexism and bias persist in workplace cultures, affecting women's experiences in various ways such as appearance expectations, parental leave policies, and biased feedback and evaluations. Recognizing and confronting bias can be challenging due to its subtle nature, necessitating self-reflection and examination of personal experiences. It is important to establish goals and focus on solutions rather than ruminate over potential bias. Recognizing and addressing bias can lead to personal growth and promote fairness in professional environments.

Navigating Email Communication in a Biased System

02:03

Reducing Ambiguity and Advocating for Fair Treatment in the Workplace

03:07

Introduction

2min

Recognizing and Responding to Bias

13min

Recognizing Bias and Keeping an Open Mind

7min

Ads for Harvard Business School and Coaching Real Leaders, and a Discussion on Feedback Gender Bias

2min

Navigating Email Communication and Gender Bias

17min

Challenges of Gender Bias and Self-Gaslighting in the Workplace

2min

Trust, Intuition, and Recognizing Reality

6min

Processing and Dealing with Sexist Incidents

3min

Sexism is everywhere in workplaces, from people’s expectations about how women look and act to companies’ inadequate or unfair parental leave policies. Still, it can be shocking when you realize—or suspect—that you’re the target of that bias. Perhaps you sense someone is interrupting you over and over because you’re a woman. Or, you receive an end-of-year rating that just doesn’t align with your actual performance, and no one can (or will) explain the discrepancy.

Is there any way to know for sure whether something that a colleague or client did—or neglected to do—is sexism? When is confronting that person worth it? And if you’ll never know what drove their actions, how do you make peace with the uncertainty? Amy G talks through these questions with two professors who study perceptions and gender stereotypes.

Guest experts:

Katie Coffman is an economist and professor at Harvard Business School, where she studies how stereotypes impact our beliefs about ourselves

Michelle Duguid is a professor and the associate dean of diversity, inclusion, and belonging at Cornell.

Resources:

“Dismantling ‘Benevolent’ Sexism,” by Negin Sattari et al.
“Unconscious Bias Training That Works,” by Francesca Gino and Katherine Coffman
“Why Most Performance Evaluations Are Biased, and How to Fix Them,” by Lori Nishiura Mackenzie et al.
“Research: How Bias Against Women Persists in Female-Dominated Workplaces,” by Amy Diehl

Email us: womenatwork@hbr.org

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Women at Work

Sexism Is Everywhere

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

Navigating workplace sexism and bias

Examining experiences of bias

Navigating ambiguous situations

Trusting one's gut and seeking fairness

Navigating Email Communication in a Biased System

Reducing Ambiguity and Advocating for Fair Treatment in the Workplace

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts