Improving the workplace experience of women in STEM
Summary
“Merely working in a mixed-gender team - or even feeling respected as highly competent by men - is not sufficient to protect women from the psychological costs of experiencing social exclusion from male coworkers,” Bergsieker said. Using a sample of 1,247 professional scientists and engineers from nine organisations, the researchers had participants complete a survey that measured their social networks, workplace outcomes, and implicit gender stereotypes (using a reaction time task). To gain insight into social network structures, participants listed up to five teammates and then indicated who, including themselves, sought out each person for informal socialising. “Our research shows how positive day-to-day interactions between colleagues reflect and reinforce this chilly climate, and points to a counter-intuitive way that we can help fix it,” said Emily Cyr, a PhD candidate in social psychology at Waterloo. “When men made even small gestures of social inclusion, for example, chatting with female teammates during breaks, women reported feeling less worried about being stereotyped at work and more engaged in their careers.