For decades, researchers, leaders and policymakers have worked to develop and implement interventions to increase the organizational representation of historically under-represented and marginalized groups, such as women in STEM and Black students attending prestigious universities. Despite substantial investments of time and resources, progress has stalled — and, worryingly, these efforts are facing growing backlash. In this Review, we examine diversity initiatives and policies grounded in psychological theory, particularly social cognition and person perception. We begin by outlining common organizational diversity strategies, identifying their psychological foundations and assessing their effectiveness. Although these approaches address an essential dimension of under-representation, they have limited effectiveness when applied alone because they primarily target individuals and intrapersonal processes (for example, stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination) while leaving systems that perpetuate inequality intact. We then consider adjacent literatures of choice architecture and judgement and decision-making, which offer complementary tools for advancing diversity by addressing both the systems in which people operate and the processes that shape individual behaviour. When combined with psychologically informed initiatives, these approaches offer a promising and sustainable path towards meaningful progress in organizational diversity. Despite widespread adoption of diversity initiatives grounded in psychological insights, evidence for their effectiveness is mixed. In this Review, He et al. present behavioural design as a promising avenue for bridging individual-level and system-level approaches to organizational diversity.

Job advertisements for jobs in male-dominated fields tend to contain more masculine language, and a commonly proposed intervention to increase gender diversity in applicant pools is to remove this language. In our research, we offer predictions about the broader impact of such interventions on individuals who may not “fit” with traditional masculine identity. Across four multimethod studies ( N = 37,920) spanning both field and lab settings, we demonstrate that a gender debiasing intervention that replaces masculine language in job postings with synonymous gender-neutral language increases application rates among women and men whose self-identities are less aligned with masculinity. Our research highlights that conceptualizing identity incongruence along a continuum can help explain when and why gender diversity initiatives foster the inclusion of a broader group of individuals than initially anticipated.

Ethnic minority populations, such as the Chinese and other racial minority communities, have traditionally been the targets of physical and social harassment. The onset of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has reignited the racism, violence, and xenophobia faced by individuals of Chinese descent across North America. As a result, there is now a spotlight on the Chinese immigrant experience and the capacity for these individuals to authentically communicate and present their identities, specifically through the use of self-labels. In a mixed-methods investigation, we assessed the preferred self-labels among a sample of the Chinese population in Canada and sought to uncover the meanings imbued in the labels they use to describe themselves across different contexts. In addition, the relationships between label preferences and measures of ethnic identity and language were examined. Although bicultural labels (e.g., Chinese Canadian, Canadian Chinese, Hong Kong Canadian, etc.) were the most preferred, there was a variety of labels used, suggesting a more complex meaning in the choice of self-labels. Implications for identity and self-categorization are discussed.

Meaningful and long-lasting progress in equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) continue to elude academics, practitioners, and policymakers. Extending Chater & Loewenstein's arguments to the EDI space, we argue that, despite conventional focus on individual-level solutions (i-frame), increasing EDI also requires a systemic focus (s-frame). We thus call for the design, testing, and implementation of multipronged s-frame interventions.

This symposium includes four empirical papers that seek to advance knowledge about understanding institutional and interpersonal barriers to achieving gender equality. The first paper presents evidence of overrepresentation of women Nobel laureates in the media and explores how such disproportionate visibility can paradoxically put women at a disadvantage by negatively impacting award prestige and reducing support for diversity initiatives. The second paper explores gender disparities in the professional credentialing process in engineering and shows how these ultimately perpetuate the gender gaps in firms and professions. The third paper investigates how female leaders’ usage of gender-stereotypical language gets them greater approval from others yet less compliance. Finally, the fourth paper explores how men’s responses to gendered job association may represent a critical, yet relatively underappreciated, mechanism sustaining gender inequality and segregation. The next section provides a more detailed summary of each paper. The Gender License Gap: Gendered Barriers in the Engineering Licensing Process Author: Joyce He; U. of California, Los Angeles Author: Sonia Kang; U. of Toronto Consequences of Disproportionate Visibility of Women and Racial Minority Nobel Laureates Author: Danqiao Cheng; UCLA Anderson School of Management Author: Serena Does; UCLA Anderson School of Management Author: Jana Gallus; UCLA Anderson School of Management Female leaders are more trusted but less effective when they use gender-stereotypical language Author: Matthew Asher Lawson; Fuqua School of Business, Duke U. Author: Sandra Matz; Columbia Business School Author: Friedrich Götz; U. of Cambridge How men’s—but not women’s—responses to gendered job associations entrench occupational segregation Author: Eileen Y. Suh; Boston U. Questrom School of Business Author: Evan P. Apfelbaum; MIT Sloan School of Management Author: Michael Norton; Harvard U.

Global authorities such as WHO and the International Labour Organization have proposed interventions to improve the telecommuting experience, such as establishing work–life boundary strategies, designing ergonomic remote workplaces, and maintaining regular social interactions.1Amster Y Healthy and safe telework: a WHO/ILO technical brief.Saf Health Work. 2022; 13: S303-S304Crossref Google Scholar However, the potential negative gendered consequences remain under-acknowledged. When women work from home, they report a disproportionate increase in domestic labour, childcare-related disruptions, and declines in productivity and mental health.2Lyttelton T Zang E Musick K Gender differences in telecommuting and implications for inequality at home and work.SSRN. 2020; (published online July 17.) (preprint).https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3645561Crossref Scopus (0) Google Scholar If not addressed, teleworking might exacerbate existing gender inequities in career advancement, health, and rights, among others, especially as global telecommuting rates continue to climb throughout 2022 and beyond.1Amster Y Healthy and safe telework: a WHO/ILO technical brief.Saf Health Work. 2022; 13: S303-S304Crossref Google Scholar, 3Barrero JM Bloom N Davis SJ Why working from home will stick. National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA2021Crossref Google Scholar, 4BufferState of remote work.https://buffer.com/state-of-remote-work/2022Date: 2022Date accessed: May 17, 2022Google ScholarIn general, women are more likely to telecommute than men, both before5Noonan MC Estes SB Glass JL Do workplace flexibility policies influence time spent in domestic labor?.J Fam Issues. 2007; 28: 263-288Crossref Scopus (58) Google Scholar, 6Bick A Blandin A Mertens K Work from home before and after the COVID-19 outbreak.SSRN. 2021; (published online Feb 17.) (preprint).https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3786142Crossref Scopus (0) Google Scholar and after the COVID-19 pandemic,3Barrero JM Bloom N Davis SJ Why working from home will stick. National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA2021Crossref Google Scholar, 7Chung H Birkett H Forbes S Seo H Covid-19, flexible working, and implications for gender equality in the United Kingdom.Gend Soc. 2021; 35: 218-232Crossref Scopus (32) Google Scholar, 8Zang E Tan PL Lyttelton T Guo A Impacts of the COVID-19 lockdown on gender inequalities in time spent on paid and unpaid work in Singapore.SSRN. 2021; (published online March 22.) (preprint).https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=3809482Google Scholar and women are more likely to report mental health issues. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, 62·3% of telecommuting women (vs 42·6% of telecommuting men) in the USA reported two or more new mental health issues after transitioning to remote work.9Xiao Y Becerik-Gerber B Lucas G Roll SC Impacts of working from home during COVID-19 pandemic on physical and mental well-being of office workstation users.J Occup Environ Med. 2021; 63: 181-190Crossref PubMed Scopus (132) Google Scholar These women reported more depression, loneliness, anxiety, and stress,2Lyttelton T Zang E Musick K Gender differences in telecommuting and implications for inequality at home and work.SSRN. 2020; (published online July 17.) (preprint).https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3645561Crossref Scopus (0) Google Scholar, 10Şentürk E Sağaltıcı E Geniş B Günday Toker Ö Predictors of depression, anxiety and stress among remote workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.Work. 2021; (published online May 13.) (preprint).https://content.iospress.com/articles/work/wor210082PubMed Google Scholar and sharper declines in job satisfaction, engagement, efficiency, and work–life balance, when compared with men.11Feng Z Savani K Covid-19 created a gender gap in perceived work productivity and job satisfaction: implications for dual-career parents working from home.Gend Manag. 2020; 35: 719-736Google Scholar, 12Rožman M Sternad Zabukovšek S Bobek S Tominc P Gender differences in work satisfaction, work engagement and work efficiency of employees during the COVID-19 pandemic: the case in Slovenia.Sustainability (Basel). 2021; 138791Google Scholar Additionally, women reported higher rates of fatigue than men, due to extra hours spent on unpaid labour (eg, housework, childcare, and eldercare).10Şentürk E Sağaltıcı E Geniş B Günday Toker Ö Predictors of depression, anxiety and stress among remote workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.Work. 2021; (published online May 13.) (preprint).https://content.iospress.com/articles/work/wor210082PubMed Google Scholar, 13Oakman J Kinsman N Stuckey R Graham M Weale V A rapid review of mental and physical health effects of working at home: how do we optimise health?.BMC Public Health. 2020; 201825Crossref PubMed Scopus (113) Google Scholar Because telecommuters are generally paid and promoted less than office workers,1Amster Y Healthy and safe telework: a WHO/ILO technical brief.Saf Health Work. 2022; 13: S303-S304Crossref Google Scholar, 5Noonan MC Estes SB Glass JL Do workplace flexibility policies influence time spent in domestic labor?.J Fam Issues. 2007; 28: 263-288Crossref Scopus (58) Google Scholar, 14Bloom N Liang J Roberts J Ying ZJ Does working from home work? Evidence from a Chinese experiment.Q J Econ. 2015; 130: 165-218Crossref Scopus (388) Google Scholar the increasing gender gap in telecommuting could exacerbate existing disparities in pay and promotion that women already experience relative to men, in turn negatively affecting women's health.15Platt J Prins S Bates L Keyes K Unequal depression for equal work? How the wage gap explains gendered disparities in mood disorders.Soc Sci Med. 2016; 149: 1-8Crossref PubMed Scopus (46) Google Scholar, 16Pascoe EA Smart Richman L Perceived discrimination and health: a meta-analytic review.Psychol Bull. 2009; 135: 531-554Crossref PubMed Scopus (2551) Google ScholarIntersectional factors including socioeconomic and partner employment status can heighten telecommuting-related gender inequity. For instance, mothers with lower earnings and fewer resources to hire domestic helpers, for example, experience steeper increases and heavier burdens of domestic labour8Zang E Tan PL Lyttelton T Guo A Impacts of the COVID-19 lockdown on gender inequalities in time spent on paid and unpaid work in Singapore.SSRN. 2021; (published online March 22.) (preprint).https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=3809482Google Scholar and more health issues when compared with high-income mothers, due to their lower income buffer and job security.9Xiao Y Becerik-Gerber B Lucas G Roll SC Impacts of working from home during COVID-19 pandemic on physical and mental well-being of office workstation users.J Occup Environ Med. 2021; 63: 181-190Crossref PubMed Scopus (132) Google Scholar These consequences are exacerbated for single mothers, who bear substantially higher burdens of domestic labour than telecommuting single fathers and members of dual telecommuting couples.7Chung H Birkett H Forbes S Seo H Covid-19, flexible working, and implications for gender equality in the United Kingdom.Gend Soc. 2021; 35: 218-232Crossref Scopus (32) Google Scholar, 17Dunatchik A Gerson K Glass J Jacobs JA Stritzel H Gender, parenting, and the rise of remote work during the pandemic: implications for domestic inequality in the United States.Gend Soc. 2021; 35: 194-205Crossref Scopus (27) Google ScholarAll of this said, telecommuting can empower gender equity if used effectively.8Zang E Tan PL Lyttelton T Guo A Impacts of the COVID-19 lockdown on gender inequalities in time spent on paid and unpaid work in Singapore.SSRN. 2021; (published online March 22.) (preprint).https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=3809482Google Scholar, 18Chung H van der Horst M Women's employment patterns after childbirth and the perceived access to and use of flexitime and teleworking.Hum Relat. 2018; 71: 47-72Crossref PubMed Scopus (92) Google Scholar For instance, telecommuting can help women maintain their usual work hours after childbirth.18Chung H van der Horst M Women's employment patterns after childbirth and the perceived access to and use of flexitime and teleworking.Hum Relat. 2018; 71: 47-72Crossref PubMed Scopus (92) Google Scholar Before the pandemic, mothers who worked remotely (typically in private sector jobs) experienced a smaller differential in paid labour hours compared with mothers who worked in person, due to their increased work flexibility. However, the negative gendered consequences (eg, asymmetry in domestic labour, childcare, and health outcomes) must be monitored and eliminated to ensure that telecommuting does not end up doing more harm than good. To this end, we suggest three organisational solutions.First, when workplace flexibility practices and policies are developed such that they deliberately target traditionally undervalued groups (such as women, mothers, part-time employees, or people with disabilities), the practices and policies themselves become stigmatised—organisations can help to break down this bias by increasing men's or other dominant group telecommuting rates. Organisations can attract more men to telecommuting by creating more hybrid and telecommuting jobs and encouraging people of all genders to apply. One reason men resist telecommuting is the belief that telecommuters have fewer opportunities for training and career advancement,4BufferState of remote work.https://buffer.com/state-of-remote-work/2022Date: 2022Date accessed: May 17, 2022Google Scholar, 19Pelta R Survey: men & women experience remote work differently.https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/men-women-experience-remote-work-survey/Date: 2022Date accessed: May 17, 2022Google Scholar so organisations must establish and protect high-quality advancement and training opportunities for employees to engage in during their usual work hours. For example, networking is crucial for creating career opportunities, so organisations must provide tailored and frequent networking opportunities for telecommuters, again during work hours.Second, organisations must go beyond equality to equity, by providing tailored support to asymmetrically affected employees, such as telecommuting single mothers. Telecommuting benefits organisations by reducing physical space needs and increasing productivity.3Barrero JM Bloom N Davis SJ Why working from home will stick. National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA2021Crossref Google Scholar Organisations could leverage these gains to establish more robust networks and funding for employees who are disproportionately disadvantaged by teleworking. Many nations (eg, France, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Canada, and Brazil) have recently granted employees the right to disconnect after hours.20Government of CanadaFinal report of the right to disconnect advisory committee.https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/corporate/portfolio/labour/programs/labour-standards/reports/right-to-disconnect-advisory-committee.html#h2.02Date: 2022Date accessed: July 1, 2022Google Scholar Tailoring this policy to support telecommuting single mothers, for example, might allow them to customise their right to disconnect hours, to minimise domestic distractions and facilitate balance between paid and unpaid labour. Additionally, organisations could provide these mothers with a stipend for paying for domestic helpers or childcare-related services.Finally, employers must create a culture that enables teleworking women to succeed by initiating and supporting employee-driven teleworking initiatives and the training of managers. Employee-driven initiatives (eg, employee resource groups) allow employees to offer their insights and cocreate solutions. Such initiatives, with the support of the organisation and top management, have effectively increased workplace inclusion by increasing development and networking opportunities for women, employee engagement and satisfaction, and racial and ethnic representation.21Stanford FC The importance of diversity and inclusion in the healthcare workforce.J Natl Med Assoc. 2020; 112: 247-249Crossref PubMed Scopus (23) Google Scholar Including employee perspectives in the identification of problems and solutions helps to ensure that organisational responses are appropriate and effective. Furthermore, organisations must make sure that managers understand and are committed to eliminating the gender gaps that can accompany telework. Managers are typically the direct facilitators of organisational initiatives and policies, so careful managerial training is crucial to the success of teleworking22de Laat K Remote work and post-bureaucracy: unintended consequences of work design for gender inequality.ILR Review. 2022; (published online Feb 14.)https://doi.org/10.1177/00197939221076134Crossref Scopus (1) Google Scholar and inclusivity23Ashikali T Groeneveld S Kuipers B The role of inclusive leadership in supporting an inclusive climate in diverse public sector teams.Rev Public Person Adm. 2021; 41: 497-519Crossref Scopus (30) Google Scholar policies. Training might include getting middle and top management to proactively design accommodations such as increased flexibility in work extensions for women who have an increase in domestic responsibilities, limiting or eliminating after-hours work engagements, and assigning office housework and unpromotable tasks that are typically completed by women (ie, service and support work such as taking notes and organising meetings) more equally.Telecommuting represents an exciting modernisation of work that is associated with many potential benefits, but organisations must understand and address the gendered consequences that might curtail decades of hard-won gains in gender equity. The workplace exodus towards telework is still a recent occurrence, so continued monitoring of resulting health and equity outcomes is crucial. Future research should continue to examine how telecommuting affects gender-specific facets of health, as well as women's long-term career prospects and economic security. Finally, as the bulk of current research on telecommuting originates during COVID-19, it will be prudent to monitor and adapt policy and practice as we hopefully emerge from this pandemic and establish longer-term work norms.We declare no competing interests. Global authorities such as WHO and the International Labour Organization have proposed interventions to improve the telecommuting experience, such as establishing work–life boundary strategies, designing ergonomic remote workplaces, and maintaining regular social interactions.1Amster Y Healthy and safe telework: a WHO/ILO technical brief.Saf Health Work. 2022; 13: S303-S304Crossref Google Scholar However, the potential negative gendered consequences remain under-acknowledged. When women work from home, they report a disproportionate increase in domestic labour, childcare-related disruptions, and declines in productivity and mental health.2Lyttelton T Zang E Musick K Gender differences in telecommuting and implications for inequality at home and work.SSRN. 2020; (published online July 17.) (preprint).https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3645561Crossref Scopus (0) Google Scholar If not addressed, teleworking might exacerbate existing gender inequities in career advancement, health, and rights, among others, especially as global telecommuting rates continue to climb throughout 2022 and beyond.1Amster Y Healthy and safe telework: a WHO/ILO technical brief.Saf Health Work. 2022; 13: S303-S304Crossref Google Scholar, 3Barrero JM Bloom N Davis SJ Why working from home will stick. National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA2021Crossref Google Scholar, 4BufferState of remote work.https://buffer.com/state-of-remote-work/2022Date: 2022Date accessed: May 17, 2022Google Scholar In general, women are more likely to telecommute than men, both before5Noonan MC Estes SB Glass JL Do workplace flexibility policies influence time spent in domestic labor?.J Fam Issues. 2007; 28: 263-288Crossref Scopus (58) Google Scholar, 6Bick A Blandin A Mertens K Work from home before and after the COVID-19 outbreak.SSRN. 2021; (published online Feb 17.) (preprint).https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3786142Crossref Scopus (0) Google Scholar and after the COVID-19 pandemic,3Barrero JM Bloom N Davis SJ Why working from home will stick. National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA2021Crossref Google Scholar, 7Chung H Birkett H Forbes S Seo H Covid-19, flexible working, and implications for gender equality in the United Kingdom.Gend Soc. 2021; 35: 218-232Crossref Scopus (32) Google Scholar, 8Zang E Tan PL Lyttelton T Guo A Impacts of the COVID-19 lockdown on gender inequalities in time spent on paid and unpaid work in Singapore.SSRN. 2021; (published online March 22.) (preprint).https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=3809482Google Scholar and women are more likely to report mental health issues. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, 62·3% of telecommuting women (vs 42·6% of telecommuting men) in the USA reported two or more new mental health issues after transitioning to remote work.9Xiao Y Becerik-Gerber B Lucas G Roll SC Impacts of working from home during COVID-19 pandemic on physical and mental well-being of office workstation users.J Occup Environ Med. 2021; 63: 181-190Crossref PubMed Scopus (132) Google Scholar These women reported more depression, loneliness, anxiety, and stress,2Lyttelton T Zang E Musick K Gender differences in telecommuting and implications for inequality at home and work.SSRN. 2020; (published online July 17.) (preprint).https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3645561Crossref Scopus (0) Google Scholar, 10Şentürk E Sağaltıcı E Geniş B Günday Toker Ö Predictors of depression, anxiety and stress among remote workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.Work. 2021; (published online May 13.) (preprint).https://content.iospress.com/articles/work/wor210082PubMed Google Scholar and sharper declines in job satisfaction, engagement, efficiency, and work–life balance, when compared with men.11Feng Z Savani K Covid-19 created a gender gap in perceived work productivity and job satisfaction: implications for dual-career parents working from home.Gend Manag. 2020; 35: 719-736Google Scholar, 12Rožman M Sternad Zabukovšek S Bobek S Tominc P Gender differences in work satisfaction, work engagement and work efficiency of employees during the COVID-19 pandemic: the case in Slovenia.Sustainability (Basel). 2021; 138791Google Scholar Additionally, women reported higher rates of fatigue than men, due to extra hours spent on unpaid labour (eg, housework, childcare, and eldercare).10Şentürk E Sağaltıcı E Geniş B Günday Toker Ö Predictors of depression, anxiety and stress among remote workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.Work. 2021; (published online May 13.) (preprint).https://content.iospress.com/articles/work/wor210082PubMed Google Scholar, 13Oakman J Kinsman N Stuckey R Graham M Weale V A rapid review of mental and physical health effects of working at home: how do we optimise health?.BMC Public Health. 2020; 201825Crossref PubMed Scopus (113) Google Scholar Because telecommuters are generally paid and promoted less than office workers,1Amster Y Healthy and safe telework: a WHO/ILO technical brief.Saf Health Work. 2022; 13: S303-S304Crossref Google Scholar, 5Noonan MC Estes SB Glass JL Do workplace flexibility policies influence time spent in domestic labor?.J Fam Issues. 2007; 28: 263-288Crossref Scopus (58) Google Scholar, 14Bloom N Liang J Roberts J Ying ZJ Does working from home work? Evidence from a Chinese experiment.Q J Econ. 2015; 130: 165-218Crossref Scopus (388) Google Scholar the increasing gender gap in telecommuting could exacerbate existing disparities in pay and promotion that women already experience relative to men, in turn negatively affecting women's health.15Platt J Prins S Bates L Keyes K Unequal depression for equal work? How the wage gap explains gendered disparities in mood disorders.Soc Sci Med. 2016; 149: 1-8Crossref PubMed Scopus (46) Google Scholar, 16Pascoe EA Smart Richman L Perceived discrimination and health: a meta-analytic review.Psychol Bull. 2009; 135: 531-554Crossref PubMed Scopus (2551) Google Scholar Intersectional factors including socioeconomic and partner employment status can heighten telecommuting-related gender inequity. For instance, mothers with lower earnings and fewer resources to hire domestic helpers, for example, experience steeper increases and heavier burdens of domestic labour8Zang E Tan PL Lyttelton T Guo A Impacts of the COVID-19 lockdown on gender inequalities in time spent on paid and unpaid work in Singapore.SSRN. 2021; (published online March 22.) (preprint).https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=3809482Google Scholar and more health issues when compared with high-income mothers, due to their lower income buffer and job security.9Xiao Y Becerik-Gerber B Lucas G Roll SC Impacts of working from home during COVID-19 pandemic on physical and mental well-being of office workstation users.J Occup Environ Med. 2021; 63: 181-190Crossref PubMed Scopus (132) Google Scholar These consequences are exacerbated for single mothers, who bear substantially higher burdens of domestic labour than telecommuting single fathers and members of dual telecommuting couples.7Chung H Birkett H Forbes S Seo H Covid-19, flexible working, and implications for gender equality in the United Kingdom.Gend Soc. 2021; 35: 218-232Crossref Scopus (32) Google Scholar, 17Dunatchik A Gerson K Glass J Jacobs JA Stritzel H Gender, parenting, and the rise of remote work during the pandemic: implications for domestic inequality in the United States.Gend Soc. 2021; 35: 194-205Crossref Scopus (27) Google Scholar All of this said, telecommuting can empower gender equity if used effectively.8Zang E Tan PL Lyttelton T Guo A Impacts of the COVID-19 lockdown on gender inequalities in time spent on paid and unpaid work in Singapore.SSRN. 2021; (published online March 22.) (preprint).https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=3809482Google Scholar, 18Chung H van der Horst M Women's employment patterns after childbirth and the perceived access to and use of flexitime and teleworking.Hum Relat. 2018; 71: 47-72Crossref PubMed Scopus (92) Google Scholar For instance, telecommuting can help women maintain their usual work hours after childbirth.18Chung H van der Horst M Women's employment patterns after childbirth and the perceived access to and use of flexitime and teleworking.Hum Relat. 2018; 71: 47-72Crossref PubMed Scopus (92) Google Scholar Before the pandemic, mothers who worked remotely (typically in private sector jobs) experienced a smaller differential in paid labour hours compared with mothers who worked in person, due to their increased work flexibility. However, the negative gendered consequences (eg, asymmetry in domestic labour, childcare, and health outcomes) must be monitored and eliminated to ensure that telecommuting does not end up doing more harm than good. To this end, we suggest three organisational solutions. First, when workplace flexibility practices and policies are developed such that they deliberately target traditionally undervalued groups (such as women, mothers, part-time employees, or people with disabilities), the practices and policies themselves become stigmatised—organisations can help to break down this bias by increasing men's or other dominant group telecommuting rates. Organisations can attract more men to telecommuting by creating more hybrid and telecommuting jobs and encouraging people of all genders to apply. One reason men resist telecommuting is the belief that telecommuters have fewer opportunities for training and career advancement,4BufferState of remote work.https://buffer.com/state-of-remote-work/2022Date: 2022Date accessed: May 17, 2022Google Scholar, 19Pelta R Survey: men & women experience remote work differently.https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/men-women-experience-remote-work-survey/Date: 2022Date accessed: May 17, 2022Google Scholar so organisations must establish and protect high-quality advancement and training opportunities for employees to engage in during their usual work hours. For example, networking is crucial for creating career opportunities, so organisations must provide tailored and frequent networking opportunities for telecommuters, again during work hours. Second, organisations must go beyond equality to equity, by providing tailored support to asymmetrically affected employees, such as telecommuting single mothers. Telecommuting benefits organisations by reducing physical space needs and increasing productivity.3Barrero JM Bloom N Davis SJ Why working from home will stick. National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA2021Crossref Google Scholar Organisations could leverage these gains to establish more robust networks and funding for employees who are disproportionately disadvantaged by teleworking. Many nations (eg, France, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Canada, and Brazil) have recently granted employees the right to disconnect after hours.20Government of CanadaFinal report of the right to disconnect advisory committee.https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/corporate/portfolio/labour/programs/labour-standards/reports/right-to-disconnect-advisory-committee.html#h2.02Date: 2022Date accessed: July 1, 2022Google Scholar Tailoring this policy to support telecommuting single mothers, for example, might allow them to customise their right to disconnect hours, to minimise domestic distractions and facilitate balance between paid and unpaid labour. Additionally, organisations could provide these mothers with a stipend for paying for domestic helpers or childcare-related services. Finally, employers must create a culture that enables teleworking women to succeed by initiating and supporting employee-driven teleworking initiatives and the training of managers. Employee-driven initiatives (eg, employee resource groups) allow employees to offer their insights and cocreate solutions. Such initiatives, with the support of the organisation and top management, have effectively increased workplace inclusion by increasing development and networking opportunities for women, employee engagement and satisfaction, and racial and ethnic representation.21Stanford FC The importance of diversity and inclusion in the healthcare workforce.J Natl Med Assoc. 2020; 112: 247-249Crossref PubMed Scopus (23) Google Scholar Including employee perspectives in the identification of problems and solutions helps to ensure that organisational responses are appropriate and effective. Furthermore, organisations must make sure that managers understand and are committed to eliminating the gender gaps that can accompany telework. Managers are typically the direct facilitators of organisational initiatives and policies, so careful managerial training is crucial to the success of teleworking22de Laat K Remote work and post-bureaucracy: unintended consequences of work design for gender inequality.ILR Review. 2022; (published online Feb 14.)https://doi.org/10.1177/00197939221076134Crossref Scopus (1) Google Scholar and inclusivity23Ashikali T Groeneveld S Kuipers B The role of inclusive leadership in supporting an inclusive climate in diverse public sector teams.Rev Public Person Adm. 2021; 41: 497-519Crossref Scopus (30) Google Scholar policies. Training might include getting middle and top management to proactively design accommodations such as increased flexibility in work extensions for women who have an increase in domestic responsibilities, limiting or eliminating after-hours work engagements, and assigning office housework and unpromotable tasks that are typically completed by women (ie, service and support work such as taking notes and organising meetings) more equally. Telecommuting represents an exciting modernisation of work that is associated with many potential benefits, but organisations must understand and address the gendered consequences that might curtail decades of hard-won gains in gender equity. The workplace exodus towards telework is still a recent occurrence, so continued monitoring of resulting health and equity outcomes is crucial. Future research should continue to examine how telecommuting affects gender-specific facets of health, as well as women's long-term career prospects and economic security. Finally, as the bulk of current research on telecommuting originates during COVID-19, it will be prudent to monitor and adapt policy and practice as we hopefully emerge from this pandemic and establish longer-term work norms. We declare no competing interests.

Advertisements for male-dominated jobs tend to contain more masculine language, which can deter women from applying because it highlights the incongruence between their gender and professional identities. A commonly proposed intervention is to remove this masculine language to attract more women. However, research on masculinity and gender suggests that men can also experience incongruence with stereotypical expectations for masculinity. In this paper, we build theory to explain how a “gender de-biasing” intervention on masculine language in job advertisements for male-dominated jobs increases gender diversity of applicants by attracting more people (not only women, but also men) who may not strongly adhere to the expectations traditionally associated with male gender identity. Across an extensive database of 576 job postings and over 30,000 applicants from a large organization, a quasi-experiment in the field, and a pre-registered online experiment, we find that removing masculine language from job postings leads to an increase in application rates from individuals who appear incongruent with the masculine identity – including both women and men who identify as less masculine. Theoretically, our research suggests the importance of aligning multiple identities when signaling who is welcome to apply for job opportunities. Practically, our findings suggest a concrete, feasible intervention to increase the gender diversity of applicants.

Leadership traits and behaviors are observed early in human development, and although an improved understanding of youth leadership would usefully inform many real-world contexts (e.g., education, parenting, policy), most empirical work on leadership has been limited to adult populations. The purpose of the current article is to add a developmental perspective to leadership research that has so far been absent. Here, we (a) highlight adolescence as a critical developmental period for leadership emergence and development, (b) argue that leadership among youths is poorly understood and critically understudied, (c) provide exemplars of synergy between research on leadership and adolescent development that are ripe for focused inquiry, and (d) underscore some of the positive consequences of accelerating empirical research on leadership in adolescence, including implications for a deeper understanding of leadership in adult working populations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated social inequality within the U.S. As a result, many organizations have attempted to increase the gender and racial/ethnicity diversity of their organizations to potentially help reduce social inequality. The papers in this symposium test assumptions regarding various diversity efforts to examine the effects of these efforts on organizational perceptions and on people’s feelings of inclusion and belonging. The first paper investigates the effectiveness of asking applicants to provide diversity statements to see whether asking for these statements increases the diversity of applicants/hires and signals to applicants that the organization values equity, diversity, and inclusion. The second paper explores how disclosure of employee diversity data influences impressions of organizations. The third paper investigates concerns that dominant group members may have towards organizational diversity efforts and explores ways to garner support from dominant group members for diversity efforts. Finally, the fourth paper explores how structured evaluation processes may increase employees’ perceptions of inclusion and belonging within organizations. Together, the papers in this symposium provide insights into how managers can potentially increase diversity, equity, and inclusion within organizations. Exploring the Effects of “Personal EDI Statements” on Applicants and Organizations Presenter: Joyce He; U. of California, Los Angeles Presenter: Grusha Agarwal; U. of Toronto, Rotman School of Management Presenter: Sonia Kang; U. of Toronto Disclosing Workforce Diversity Data Increases Perceptions of Progress (Even When There Isn’t Any) Presenter: Evan P. Apfelbaum; MIT Sloan School of Management Presenter: Eileen Y. Suh; Boston U. Questrom School of Business We Need You! Diversity Messages That Enlist Dominant Group Members in Diversity Efforts Presenter: Kaylene McClanahan; U. of California, Los Angeles Presenter: Hannah Birnbaum; Northwestern Kellogg School of Management Presenter: Margaret Shih; U. of California, Los Angeles Structured Evaluations Processes Increase Employees’ Perceptions of Inclusion and Belonging Presenter: Aeroelay Chyei Vinluan; Harvard Business School Presenter: Erika Kirgios; The Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania Presenter: Edward Chang; Harvard Business School

Despite decades of research and intervention efforts, occupation segregation by gender remains a significant problem. Although an emerging body of research suggests that female job seekers respond to anticipated discrimination in male-dominated jobs by choosing not to apply (i.e., leaning out), the literature on professional image construction and gender fluidity suggests another possible response to anticipated gender discrimination the deliberate management of gender impressions. In the current research, we theorize that job seekers respond to anticipated gender discrimination by managing impressions of their gender in ways to achieve more gender congruence when they apply for jobs. We employ a mixed-methods approach across four studies to investigate the motivations, techniques, and outcomes of managing gender in job applications for different kinds of jobs. We find that women, but not men, manage gender when applying to gender-incongruent (i.e., male-dominated) jobs by using less feminine language, and that, paradoxically, they are less likely to be hired when they do so. The current research contributes to the demand side explanation of occupation segregation and to our understanding of gender as a fluid social construction within organizational contexts.

Myriad scientific disciplines have examined how people overcome adversity (i.e., barriers, challenges, difficulties, and misfortune), ranging from the mundane to the traumatic, to find success in their personal and professional lives. The variety of approaches to examining responses to adversity attest to its importance. However, these varied streams of research also pose some challenges to advancing a comprehensive understanding of this area of research. In this proposed panel, we aim to take stock of the research on overcoming adversity as it pertains to individual and collective life in organizations. Bringing together a group of panelists who use a diverse set of approaches to understand this phenomenon, we aim to identify key findings across studies, opportunities for different streams of research to learn from each other, and promising new directions for future research.

Research shows that women are less likely to enter competitions than men. This disparity may translate into a gender imbalance in holding leadership positions or ascending in organizations. We provide both laboratory and field experimental evidence that this difference can be attenuated with a default nudge-changing the choice to enter a competitive task from a default in which applicants must actively choose to compete to a default in which applicants are automatically enrolled in competition but can choose to opt out. Changing the default affects the perception of prevailing social norms about gender and competition as well as perceptions of the performance or ability threshold at which to apply. We do not find associated negative effects for performance or wellbeing. These results suggest that organizations could make use of opt-out promotion schemes to reduce the gender gap in competition and support the ascension of women to leadership positions.

Everyone has multiple social identities that influence the way they are perceived and treated and, in turn, how they perceive and respond to their social worlds at work. To date, research has tended to focus only on one identity at a time. The papers in this symposium investigate how different combinations of multiple identities affect a variety of outcomes at work, from biases and beliefs to recruitment, fundraising, and perceptions of speech and discrimination. This symposium has three goals: (1) to shed light on emerging theory on intersecting social identities, (2) to present innovative scholarship about how multiple intersecting social identities affect how individuals negotiate their workplaces and what treatment they receive, and (3) to create space for complicating the conversation about diversity and inclusion in order to examine the complexities of intersectionality and non-prototypicality. Black Women’s Experiences of Mistreatment and Withdrawal Presenter: Kathrina Robotham; U. of Michigan Presenter: Veronica C. Rabelo; San Francisco State U. Presenter: Courtney Lynn McCluney; U. of Virginia Darden School of Business Presenter: Kelsie Thorne; U. of Michigan Invisible Discrimination: Divergent Implications for the Non-Prototypicality of Black Women Presenter: Rebecca Ponce de Leon; Fuqua School of Business, Duke U. “Geeky” Rules of the Game: The Effects of Nerd Masculinity on Entrepreneurial Funding Presenter: Soojin Oh; Pennsylvania State U. Presenter: Aparna Joshi; Penn State Smeal College of Business Do White Women Get Away with Racist Speech? The Effects of Identity on Perceptions of Speech Presenter: Barnini Bhattacharyya; Sauder School of Business, U. of British Columbia Presenter: Jennifer L. Berdahl; U. of British Columbia Re-Aligning Multiple Identities by Tweaking Job Advertisement Language Presenter: Joyce He; U. of Toronto Presenter: Sonia Kang; U. of Toronto

The current research set out to understand the stereotypes individuals hold about occupations, and to examine how occupational segregation is related to incongruences between demographic and occupational stereotypes. In Study 1, we applied the Stereotype Content Model (SCM) to develop a novel classification of occupational stereotypes based on the dimensions of warmth and competence. We found evidence that occupations are reliably stereotyped along the dimensions of warmth and competence, and that raters agreed more on certain occupational stereotypes than others. In Study 2, we mapped the occupational stereotype classification onto demographic stereotypes from the SCM to predict occupational segregation in the United States. Supporting an occupational stereotype incongruence hypothesis, women were more represented in occupations characterized by high warmth and low competence; Asian people were more represented in occupations characterized by high competence; and Black and Hispanic workers were more represented in occupations characterized by low competence. This work contributes to the understanding of how individuals perceive occupations in society, provides researchers with a means for systematically comparing occupational stereotypes and demographic stereotypes by applying the same descriptive dimensions, and highlights the importance of occupational stereotypes for understanding and potentially alleviating occupational segregation.

In most organizations, promotions often require self-nomination and competition among applicants.However, research on gender differences in preferences for competition suggests that this process might result in fewer women choosing to participate.We study whether changing promotion schemes from a default where applicants must opt in (i.e., self-nominate) to a default where applicants must opt out (i.e., they are automatically considered for promotion, but can choose not to be considered) attenuates gender differences.In our first experiment, although women are less likely than men to choose competitive environments under the traditional opt-in framing, in the opt-out system both women and men have the same participation rate as men in the opt-in system.The increase in participation of women into competition is not associated with negative consequences on performance or well-being.In our second experiment, we show that opt-out framing does not entail penalties from evaluators making decisions about whom to hire.These results support the promise of choice architecture to reduce disparities in organizations.More generally, our findings suggest that gender differences in attitudes toward completion may be context-dependent.

Women's representation in science and medicine has slowly increased over the past few decades. However, this rise in numbers of women, or gender diversity, has not been matched by a rise in gender inclusion. Despite increasing representation, women still encounter bias and discrimination when compared with men in these fields across a variety of outcomes, including treatment at school and work, hiring, compensation, evaluation, and promotion. Individual and systemic biases create unwelcome environments for women, particularly for those who additionally identify with other traditionally devalued groups (eg, women of colour). This Review draws on several decades of research in the field of management and its cognate disciplines to identify five myths that continue to perpetuate gender bias and five strategies for improving not only the number of women in medicine, but also their lived experiences, capacity to aspire, and opportunity to succeed. We argue for a move away from a singular focus on interventions aimed at targeting individual attitudes and behaviour to more comprehensive interventions that address structural and systemic changes.