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Bias Interrupters for Managers Distinguished Professor Joan C. WilliamsDirector, Center for WorkLife LawUniversity of California, Hastings College of the Law

An Initiative of the Center for WorkLife Law at UC Hastings College of the Law

Copyright © 2015 Women’s Leadership Edge. All rights reserved. An Initiative of the Center for WorkLife Law at UC Hastings Slide 2

A huge body of research

• Hundreds of lab studies • Documenting bias over and over

again for 40 years• Do these lab studies describe what

actually goes on at work?


Tightrope

96% of women reported gender bias

Prove-it Again!

Maternal Wall

Tug of War

73% 68% 59% 55%

Williams Dempsey, 2014

Four distinct kinds of bias

Gender bias is commonplace


More accurate to call it automatic

Stereotype activation is automatic but

stereotype application can be controlled

That’s what we’ll be learning how to do

“Unconscious bias”?

Prove-it-Again! 68%


Prove-it-Again! Double Standards

Women need to perform better than men to be judged equally competent.

Knobloch-Westerwick, Glynn, & Huge, 2013; Moss-Racusin, Dovidio, Brescoll, Graham, & Handelsman, 2012; Roth, Purvis, & Bobko, 2012; Davison & Burke, 2000; Biernat & Kobrynowicz, 1997.


Prove-it-Again!

We dismissed a lot of women on the grounds they hadn’t finished their dissertations—and then accepted a man who hadn’t finished his.”Source: Huang, P.M., (n.d.) Gender bias in academia: Findings from focus groups, San Francisco, CA: The Center for WorkLife Law.

Retrieved February 14, 2013, from http://worklifelaw.org/pubs/gender-bias-academia.pdf.Supporting evidence: Biernat, Fuegen, & Kobrynowicz, 2010; Bowles & Gelfand, 2010; Bauer & Baltes, 2002.

Objective rules applied differently

“


“

Prove-it-Again!

He’s a generally good writer but needs to work on… ” His writing needs lots of work.”

Potential vs performance

Reeve, 2014.


Prove-it-Again!

She’s lucky.

Kulich, Trojanowski, Ryan, Alexander Haslam, & Renneboog, 2011; Garcia-Retamero & López-Zafra, 2006; Swim & Sanna, 1996; Igbaria & Baroudi, 1995; Greenhaus & Parasuraman, 1993; Taylor, Fiske, Etcoff, & Ruderman, 1978.

He’s skilled.

Men vs women’s successes


Prove-it-Again!

Women’s mistakes are noticed more, and remembered longer.

Bowles & Gelfand, 2010; Bauer & Baltes, 2002; Rothbart, Evans, & Fulero, 1979.

Women vs men’s mistakes


Prove-it-Again!

Education or experience?

Less weight given to both education and experience when women had them

Norton, Vandello & Darley, 2004.

Casuistry


Prove-it-Again!

Fleming, Petty, & White, 2005; Glick, Diebold, Bailey-Werner, & Zhu, 1997; Scherer, Owen, & Brodzinski, 1991; Heilman, Martell, & Simon, 1988; Jussim, Coleman, & Lerch, 1987; Weber & Crocker, 1983; Linville & Jones, 1980.

Superstars are different


Prove-it-Again!

BlacksLatinosAsian-Americans

Williams, Phillips & Hall, 2015.

Race


Prove-it-Again!

Individuals with disabilities, veterans, LGBTQ….

Other groups


Bias interrupters

You are sitting in a meeting and you see men being judged on their potential, women on their past performance. How do you intervene?


PIA Bias Interrupters

Let’s go back to the top of the pile…”– Better yet: make people pre-commit– If they diverge, have them explain why

“


PIA bias interrupters

Meeting before the meeting– Come armed with the facts– Ask the person in question to develop

them?

Can you help me understand how Sarah’s situation different from Jim’s?”

“


Prove-it-Again! Confirmation Bias

Duncan, Riana. Cartoon. PUNCH Magazine 8 January 1988: 11.


Bias interrupters

You are sitting in a meeting and you see the stolen idea occur. How do you intervene?


I’ve been pondering that ever since Pam first said it….”

Stolen idea interrupter

“


In-group favoritism

• We tend to think of gender bias as bias against women, bias in favor of men may be even more important

• Remember that brilliant young guy who reminds you so much of what you were like at his age?


In-group favoritism interrupter

• Check you treat men and women consistently

• Check whom you sponsor– Can you widen that circle?

Tightrope 73%


♀ are expected to be… ♂ are expected to be…• Nice, and • “Communal”– Helpful– Modest – Sympathetic,

interpersonally sensitive

• Competent, and• “Agentic”– Assertive– Competitive– Ambitious

Eagly & Karau, 2002; Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, Xu, 2002; Bettis & Adams (forthcoming).

Prescriptive stereotypes


• Women in mixed groups interrupt less

• Men tend to interrupt women a lot more than women interrupt men

Meeting dynamics The Tightrope

Carney, Cuddy & Yap, 2010; Correll & Ridgeway, 2006; Ridgeway, 2001; Dovidio & Ellyson, 1985; Ridgeway, Berger, & Smith, 1985.


Bias interrupters

You are sitting in a meeting and you see that the women are being interrupted far more than the men. How do you intervene?


“

”Manterruption” interrupter

Jennifer, I think you had a thought there?”Talk to interrupter off-line. Start the meeting by having everyone contribute their best thought.No interrupting rule.


“

Tightrope

Ellen Pao was described as both

passive, too quiet at meetings

entitled, demanding”

A tight space!


Asian American women report more pressure to fulfill traditionally feminine roles—and more pushback if they don’t.

Tightrope Double Jeopardy



• Liked but not respected “too” feminine

• Respected but not liked “too” masculine

Tightrope Likability/competence trade-off

Haselhuhn & Kray, 2012; Bowles, Babcock, & McGinn, 2005; Heilman & Chen, 2005; Glick & Fiske, 2001; Taylor, 1981; Kanter, 1975.


• Organizational citizenship behavior

• Women do more of it– And get less credit for doing it

Tightrope Pressures to behave in feminine ways

Allen, 2006.


• Housework– Planning parties, getting gifts

• Admin work– Taking notes, scheduling meetings

• Emotion work–Mentoring

• Undervalued work– “We do the task lists”

Williams & Dempsey, 2014.

Tightrope Office housework


Bias interrupters

How can you go about finding out whether men and women in your department are doing different ratios of glamour work/office housework—and how do you intervene if necessary?


Office housework interrupters

• Housework & admin work–DON’T ask for volunteers–Assign true admin and housework to support personnel–Establish a rotation


Office housework interrupters

• Figure out: glamour work vs. undervalued work

• Norms–Everyone does one citizenship task–Everyone does own (e.g. billing)

• If you see a woman getting stuck, help her develop a transition plan–The strategic “No”


•Direct

•Outspoken

• Assertive

• Competitive

Tightrope What a witch!

Phelan, Moss Racusin, & Rudman, 2008; Rudman & Phelan, 2008; Rudman & Fairchild, 2004; Rudman & Glick, 2001; Costrich, ‐Feinstein, Kidder, Marecek, & Pascale, 1975.


• Women got more negative feedback• 59% of men; 88% of women

• Negative personality comments• 2 out of 83 men

• 71 of 94 women

Tightrope What a witch!

Snyder, 2014


“Hone your strategies for guiding your team and developing their skills. It is important to set proper guidance around priorities…”

Tightrope Typical feedback for a male

Snyder, 2014.


“

“

Bossy, abrasive, strident, aggressive”

Emotional, irrational”

Tightrope Typical feedback for a female

Snyder, 2014.


Showing anger tends to increase the perceived status of a man, but decrease that of a woman.

Tightrope Anger: Gender

Brescoll, V.L. & Uhlmann, E.L. (2008). Can an angry woman get ahead?: Status conferral, gender, and expression of emotion in the workplace. Psychological Science, 19(3), 268-275. Supporting evidence: Gupta, 2013; Kring, 2000.


Angry black man/woman”

Latina/os “too emotional,” “angry,” “crazy”

Tightrope Anger: Race


“


Women get penalized for self-promotionMen get penalized for modesty

• ˂ leadership ability, weaker, uncertain & insecure

Tightrope Self-Promotion: Gender

Rudman, 1998.


In most Asian cultures, being modest is the number one virtue.”

Tightrope Self-Promotion: Race

Rudman, 1998.

“


Tightrope bias interrupters

Sharp elbows

She really flew off the handle

A real self-promoter


Bias interrupters

When you review the performance evaluations for your department, you notice that women received a lot more negative comments about their personalities than men. How can you intervene?



Check for patterns of bias

“Are we being consistent here?”

“How different is this from what Jeff did?”



• Climate: Do you tolerate screamers?


Bias interrupters

Your department relies heavily on self-promotion to get the word out about accomplishments. You notice that there’s a specific demography to who self-promotes. How can you intervene?



• Promotions–Don’t rely on self-promotion–Limit self-promotion to formal contexts—and tell people explicitly what’s expected–Set up alternative systems

Maternal Wall

59%


• 79% less likely to be hired

• Only half as likely to be promoted

• Offered $11,000 less in salary

• Held to higher performance and punctuality standards

Maternal Wall Negative competence and commitment assumptions

Correll, S.J., Benard, S. & Paik, I. (2007). Getting a job: Is there a motherhood penalty? American Journal of Sociology, 112 (5), 1297–1338.Supporting evidence: Heilman & Okimoto, 2008; Cuddy, Fiske, & Glick, 2004; Fuegen, Biernat, Haines, & Deaux, 2004.


I don’t know how you can leave your kids. My wife would never do that.”

Maternal Wall Hostile prescriptive bias

“


“I know this is not a good time for you…”

Maternal Wall Benevolent prescriptive bias


Bias interrupters

One of your reports recently returned from maternity leave. You have a career-enhancing assignment she’d be perfect for her—but it will be time-consuming. Should you give it to her?


Maternal wall bias interrupters

You are perfect for this... If it’s not a good time for you, just say so. These things come around from time to time.”

“


Maternal wall bias interrupters

• Train your team to leave their views and assumptions about family life at home–Legal risk–Managerial quagmire–Remember: happy families are not

all alike


For women…For men…

Maternal Wall Flexibility stigma


What percentage of mothers work more than 50 hours/week during key years of career advancement?



14%13.9% of college-educated mothers

(aged 25-44)



Not just women: millennials

• Men and women value flexibility equally highly

• Rank “flexible working hours” as #2 most valuable benefit from employer –Only training & development more

impt

Vandello et al., 2013; PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited, “Millennials at work: Reshaping the workplace,” 2011.


Not just mothers: fathers

• Do “real men” take parental leave?– If no one’s asking for leave; a climate

problem?

• Need to send clear message : fathers entitled to leave

Howell, 2012; JWT, “The state of men,” 2013 Haas & Hwang, 2008; Berelowitz & Ayala, 2013; Sullivan, 2009..


Flexibility stigma interrupters

• Make sure the men take their full paternity leave

• Don’t confuse face time with job commitment

• Don’t contact people on family leave


Indisputably competent and committed mothers • Women saw as– Less likeable– Held to higher performance standards


Correll & Benard, 2010; Correll, Benard, & Paik, 2007; Cuddy, Fiske, & Glick, 2004; Fuegen, Biernat, Haines, & Deaux, 2004.


If she can do all that—does it mean I’m a bad worker…

…or that she’s a bad mother?


Correll & Benard, 2010; Correll, Benard, & Paik, 2007; Cuddy, Fiske, & Glick, 2004; Fuegen, Biernat, Haines, & Deaux, 2004.

Tug of War 55%


Tug of War

The [older] women… are always very encouraging, very helpful and very kind to me.”

“

Hall, E.V., 2012. [Interview for NSF Tools for Change Project]. Unpublished data.


Tug of War Tokenism

“Opportunities for women are very zero-sum. If one woman gets a prized position…another woman won’t. And so it breeds a sense of competition.”

Williams & Dempsey, 2014 Supporting evidence: Zatz, 2002; Ely, 1994a & 1994b; Keller & Moglen, 1987; Kanter, 1997a & 1997b.


- Marissa Mayer

Tug of War

Derks, Ellemers, van Laar, & de Groot, 2011; Derks, Van Laar, Ellemers, & de Groot, 2011; Ellemers, Heuvel, Glider, Maass, & Bonvini, 2004.

“I’m not a girl at Google, I’m a geek at Google.”

Queen bee?


Tug of War

Williams, Phillips & Hall, 2015

“Because she struggled a lot and had to work extra hard and so expects other women to have done as much as she has. The goal was ‘to have women achieve high standards so there’s no criticism.”

Prove-it-again pass-through


Tug of War Prove-it-again pass-through

“Females are harder on their female assistants, more detail oriented, and they have to try harder to prove themselves, so they put that on you.”

www.abajournal.com/news/article/not_one_legal_secretary_surveyed_preferred_working_with_women_lawyers_prof_.


Tug of War


“There’s so few females that if you are the type to sort of dress up and be very girly you’ll be kind of on your own because most of the females that are in the department are not the girly type.”

Tightrope pass-through


Tug of War


“There’s that interesting internal gender bias with women who aren’t supportive of my decision not to have a family, as if that undermines the whole women’s cause. [chuckles]”

Maternal wall pass-through


Tug of War

“Janet's perfect for that job. Because for that job, you have to have no life. Janet has no family. Perfect. She can devote, literally, 19, 20 hours a day to it.”


Speigel, Lee, ABC News, “Rendell: Napolitano perfect for Homeland Security because she has ‘no life,’” Dec. 3, 2008; Image source: Associated Press, 2011.


Tug of War

Berdahl & Moon, 2012; Cuddy et al., 2004; Trade Union Congress, 2008.

• More likely to report – Had to sacrifice family or personal time to be

respected at work

• Reported by far the highest levels of workplace mistreatment (exclusion, derogation, bullying)

• Single women in their 30s work longest hours of unpaid overtime



Tug of war bias interrupters

• Make sure women without children don’t carry an unequal burden

• Make sure that long hours, weekends, holiday work are shared fairly



• Freighted relationships? Ask yourself whether they reflect gender bias

• Make sure there’s not just one “woman’s spot”


Bias interrupters

How can you make sure that the women and people of color in your department are getting the same level of support from support personnel?



• Ask them

• If there’s an issue, –Send clear messages to support personnel–And to individuals involved



• Get women working with other women—and not just on women’s issues


Tightrope MaternalWall

Tug of War


Four-step process

Do an evidence-based assessment

Develop an objective metric

Implement a bias interrupter

Return to the metric, and ratchet up as necessary

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