From chairman to salesman, many job titles typically include the word “man”.
Now, a study claims these typically male titles are sexist and undermine women’s role as leaders at work.
Researchers at the University of Houston found that the title of chairman reinforces beliefs that a leader is male more than the title of chairman.
Allison MN Archer, who led the study, said: “While some dismiss gender-neutral titles as ‘political correctness,’ this study suggests that implicitly sexist language in male titles reinforces stereotypes associating masculinity with leadership, and consequently weakens the connection between women and leadership.’
From chairman to salesman, many job titles typically include the word “man”. Now, a study claims these typically male titles are sexist and undermine the role of women in leadership positions at work (stock image)
MILLIONS OF WOMEN HAVE CONSIDERED QUIT WORK IN LOCKDOWN
According to a 2020 report, millions of women were considering “downshifting” their careers or leaving the workforce due to Covid-19.
Women workers are affected by the stress of juggling careers and caring for children, which is often exacerbated by a lack of support from their partner, it said.
The women’s rights organization Lean In, founded in 2013 by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, surveyed 40,000 employees in 317 US companies for its report.
It found that a quarter of women are considering quitting work due to stress, and another quarter fear their performance at work will be judged because they have to care for their child.
Read more: Women should quit their jobs because of Covid-19
In the study, the team wanted to find out whether male job titles affect perceptions of women in the workplace.
“Titles describing positions of power can take gender-specific or gender-neutral forms,” the team wrote in their study, published in The Leadership Quarterly.
“For example, Time’s 1999 decision to rename its award from Man of the Year to Person of the Year reflects a decision to use language that is gender-neutral and non-masculine.
“Similarly, organizations may use male (“Chairman”) or gender-neutral (“Chairman”) titles for their leaders.”
The team examined the effects of male job titles in two experiments involving 2,753 participants.
The first experiment was a writing task with 1,753 participants, in which one character – whose gender was not specified – was described as either chairman or chairman.
Respondents were asked to describe what they thought a typical morning at the office might be like for the character.
An analysis of their findings found that when the figure was referred to as a chair, 57.1 percent of participants assumed it was a man.
However, when the character was referred to as the chairman, that rose to 63.8 percent.
“When respondents described the morning of a ‘chairman’ with a gender-ambiguous name, the majority assumed the leader was male, and the masculine title ‘chairman’ further underscored this assumption,” the researchers said.
In the second experiment, 1,000 participants were randomly assigned to read a fictional description of a new leader for a state legislature’s Ways and Means Committee.
The leader was described as either Chairman or Chairman and her name was given as either John or Joan.
After reading the description, participants were asked to remember the leader’s name from a list of five options – John, Joan, Joseph, Josie, and Don’t Know.
Researchers at the University of Houston found that the title of chairman reinforces beliefs that a leader is male more than the title of chairman
The results showed that 75.1 percent of those who had read about a male leader correctly remembered his name when referring to him as the leader, compared to just 59.4 percent who referred to him as the leader.
Among those who had read about a female executive, 57 percent correctly recalled her name when they saw her referred to as chair, compared to 59.3 percent who referred to them as chair.
“The gender-specific title ‘Chairman’ relative to the gender-neutral title ‘Chairman’ increases recall accuracy for male executives and dampens recall accuracy for female executives,” the researchers wrote.
“These results underscore the asymmetric way in which a masculinized title affects female leaders: their gender is less likely to be correctly remembered compared to their male counterparts, and their leadership is more likely to be misattributed to males.”
Pregnant women who take maternity leave are exposed to “microaggressions” in the workplace
A new study reveals that expectant mothers face discrimination at work in the form of sexist comments and “microaggression”.
Researchers from London South Bank University surveyed 104 British women who had become pregnant and were at work prior to their holiday.
Respondents said they were faced with sexist comments about having a “pregnant brain” and being denied promotions and bonuses.
Many said male colleagues, who often earned more for working in the same roles, began treating them differently when they became pregnant.
Some women reported that despite being successful leaders, they were treated like the “coffee lady” or a personal assistant.
Other respondents said they had to endure negative comments for taking time off for maternity appointments or illness.
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