During Dane’s conversation with Amy Landry, Program Manager of Loyola University’s Women’s Leadership Academy, Amy discussed how women often deal with benevolent sexism at work.
So what is benevolent sexism?
Historically, social scientists and the public have used the word “sexism” to refer to hostile attitudes toward women, for example, the belief that, “women seek to gain power by getting control over men.” It wasn’t until 1996 that psychologists Dr. Susan Fiske and Dr. Peter Glick highlighted that defining “sexism” as hostile attitudes toward women fails to paint a complete picture of how sexism operates in our society.
Drs. Fiske and Glick proposed the term “ambivalent sexism” to reflect the idea that sexism takes two conflicting forms. The first form, hostile sexism, refers to openly negative evaluations of women and is what people typically think of when it comes to sexism, like the above example. A belief that “many women are actually seeking special favors, such as hiring policies that favor them over men, under the guise of asking for ‘equality'” captures hostile sexism in the workforce. The good news is that hostile sexism is less likely to be tolerated in the workforce today than in previous generations (Marcus 2018).
However, the second type of sexism, benevolent sexism, refers to evaluations of gender that at first glance seem positive, but ultimately are harmful to gender equality. For example, the belief that “many women have a quality of purity that few men possess” can, at first blush, be viewed as a positive evaluation of women. However, it reinforces traditional beliefs about men and women. From this vantage point, men are viewed as morally inferior and women are held to a higher moral standard. Benevolent sexism is problematic because, unlike hostile sexism, it’s more difficult to identify, more socially accepted, and less likely to be called out (Chan).
Within the workforce, benevolent sexism can manifest in a myriad of ways:
- It can seem helpful to reduce a new mom’s workload when she returns from maternity leave (Marcus 2018). However, this can derail a woman’s career progression, imply that women are incapable of managing their previous workloads once they have children, or reinforce the belief that women prioritize children over work.
- Women are assumed to be better collaborators (Chan) and thus performance reviews may focus solely on their personality rather than their work quality (Marcus 2018). While it’s great to recognize a person as a team player, it can lead to women missing out on essential feedback necessary to grow in their role.
- Challenging clients and negotiations are given to men who are “better equipped to display aggressive traits” necessary to deal with difficult situations (Marcus 2018). This presumption assumes women don’t have the necessary skills to deal with a difficult client and can lead to women being blocked from important opportunities and chances to build new skills.
- The belief that women are more caring than men can lead to penalization in hiring and promotion decisions for women viewed as non-caregivers since they may be seen as atypical and not embodying societal expectations of warmth and maternal affection (Chan).
These examples highlight how benevolent sexism manifests in the workforce, but they don’t tell us why. At its most basic level, sexism is predicated on the belief that men and women are inherently different from one another and that those differences are biological, deep-seated, and impossible to change. Benevolent sexism is born from stereotypes surrounding women as pure, gentle, and uniquely suited for caregiving. However, research continues to debunk the notion that men and women are so wildly different, and that, as the old book title stated, men are from Mars and women are from Venus. Instead, research continues to support the idea that the differences we do see are primarily a result of socialization.
According to a study conducted by Harvard Business Review (Sattari et. al 2022), combatting sexism in the workforce might be more complicated than expected. They found that men who are committed to combatting hostile sexism in the workforce report using benevolent sexism to combat it (Sattari et. al 2022). Sattari’s study found that between 29 percent to 74 percent of men, dependent upon the country, reported using comments characterized as benevolent sexism to combat hostile sexism. So if they were to hear a hostile comment about women, “they’re so emotional” they might respond with something to the effect of “Oh really? I find women easier to deal with.”
While this is an attempt to portray women in a positive light, it reinforces the idea that men and women are inherently different – the seed that allows sexism to grow. What’s more, Sattari and his colleagues found the expression of benevolent sexism to combat hostile sexism increased with men’s hierarchical position within an organization. This would seem to indicate that attitudes endorsing benevolent sexism could have a trickle-down effect on organizations.
Sattari (2018) gives tips to help men combat benevolent sexism at work, which I’ll share below. However, I first want to note that it is not just men who endorse hostile or benevolent sexism. Both are maintained by men and women, so we should all try to adopt these tips and tricks:
(1) Continue to educate yourself.
It’s important to learn about both hostile and benevolent sexism. Learn how they impact and operate in the workforce and how you can actively combat sexism in the workforce. Try to reflect on preconceived notions you have about the differences between men and women and how they affect your expectations of how people behave at work.
(2) Reflect on where you might use benevolent sexism to combat hostile sexism.
Are you “helping” a new mom by lessening her workload without talking to her about it first? Are you asking male colleagues to better protect women from hostile sexism rather than going to the root of the problem?
(3) Address benevolent sexism when you see it.
If you hear a benevolent but sexist remark, talk to the person about it. If someone wants to “help” a new mom out by leaving her out of the project or diminishing her workload, ask, “should we let her make that decision?”
(4) Model good behavior.
Vocally focus on people’s work competencies rather than expected gender norms when praising work. When giving feedback, check to see if stereotypes surrounding men and women are included.
(5) Campaign for your organization to take this on as an issue.
Benevolent sexism is also problematic because it’s a gateway drug to hostile sexism (Carpenter 2018). Both are predicated on assumptions about how people “should behave.” Ask your organization to dedicate time to this important issue.
A place to start is the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory. It’s an assessment created by Drs. Fiske and Glick and can help you acknowledge where your own prejudices lie. You can find it here. It can be hard to acknowledge where our own prejudices lie, but it’s the first step in creating a more equitable organization.
References
Carpenter, Julia. 2018. “Even at the top, women still face sexism. Just not the kind you’d think.” https://money.cnn.com/2018/04/06/pf/benevolent-sexism-women/index.html
Chan, Daffany. Date Unknown. “Benevolent Sexism: How Well-Meaning Stereotypes Hurt Women in the Workplace.” https://orangegroveconsulting.com/benevolent-sexism-how-well-meaning-stereotypes-hurt-women-in-the-workplace/
Marcus, Bonnie. 2018. “The Good, Bad And Ugly Ways Benevolent Sexism Plays Out In The Workplace.” https://www.forbes.com/sites/bonniemarcus/2018/04/16/the-good-bad-and-ugly-way-benevolent-sexism-plays-out-in-the-workplace/?sh=74a8f88240fd
Sattari, Negin, Sarah H. DiMuccio, Joy Ohm, and Jose M. Romero. 2022. “Dismantling “Benevolent” Sexism.” https://hbr.org/2022/06/dismantling-benevolent-sexism
Social Psychology Network. “The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory.” https://secure.understandingprejudice.org/asi/