Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Discrimination against Women's Speech at Work


Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant (pictured) have written an article for the New York Times on a body of research which seems to show systematic discrimination against women's speech in professional settings. One example from the article:
This speaking-up double bind harms organizations by depriving them of valuable ideas. A University of Texas researcher, Ethan Burris, conducted an experiment in which he asked teams to make strategic decisions for a bookstore. He randomly informed one member that the bookstore’s inventory system was flawed and gave that person data about a better approach. In subsequent analyses, he found that when women challenged the old system and suggested a new one, team leaders viewed them as less loyal and were less likely to act on their suggestions. Even when all team members were informed that one member possessed unique information that would benefit the group, suggestions from women with inside knowledge were discounted.

No comments: