It's holding women back, but it's so subtle you might not notice it
A woman with a book sits on a bench at the departure area at the airport. Image: REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
Only one in 10 CEOs is a woman and there's a growing number of explanations put forward to explain the imbalance. Now comes the suggestion that subtle elements in performance evaluation could be playing a major role.
Researchers Shelley Correll and Caroline Simard discuss in the Harvard Business Review their finding that the feedback women receive during their career tends to be vague and unrelated to outcomes. This contrasts with the experience of men who get clearer information on what is going well and specific ideas on how to improve.
“Our research shows that women are systematically less likely to receive specific feedback tied to outcomes, both when they receive praise and when the feedback is developmental,” the authors note.
The extent of the gender imbalance in leadership is highlighted in the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2016, which shows women men aren't just underrepresented in CEO and senior roles but also across mid-level and junior roles.
The researchers analysed performance evaluations across three high-tech companies and a professional services firm. They found that women were regularly criticized for their communication style, with 76% of women being found to be “too aggressive” compared to only 24% of men, but that typically, such feedback came with no specific advice on how to change behaviour.
“If reviewers do not specifically call out where women excel, where they need to build skills, and which technical projects they should target next, women are at a subtle disadvantage for promotion,” conclude the authors.
Correll and Simard recommend that managers improve the feedback they give and provide all employees with a similarly structured review that ensures developmental feedback.
Have you read?
Don't miss any update on this topic
Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.
License and Republishing
World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
Stay up to date:
Future of Work
The Agenda Weekly
A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda
You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.
More on Equity, Diversity and InclusionSee all
Guiseppe Saba
November 7, 2024