What “blindness” to gender differences helps women see and do: Implications for confidence, agency, and action in male-dominated environments

•Beliefs about how to approach differences have effects on women’s confidence and action-taking.•Downplaying gender differences (gender-blindness) increased women’s confidence and action-taking.•This strategy neutralized the confidence gap between men and women .•Effects occurred through women’s identification with agency and were stronger in male-dominated contexts.