Andie & Al, Author at Andie & Al

woman at work in yellow and black plaid shirt

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Equality & Diversity, Gender Communication Techniques, Women versus Women, Women Working with Women

Gendered Workplaces Are the Problem — Not Gender Differences

We’ve said that the fundamental flaw underlying the arguments of the books in the “mean girls at work” genre is their assumption that women’s distinctive same-gender workplace conflict is the result of fixed, unique female personality characteristics. To the contrary, people’s behavior — both women’s and men’s — is determined far more by the situations in which they find themselves than by their gender. For example, in a study of the personality traits of single fathers, single mothers, and married parents,...

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by Andie & Al

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Sexism, Women versus Women, Women Working with Women

Introducing Our New Book!

It’s Not You, It’s the Workplace: Women’s Conflict at Work and the Bias that Built It is at the publisher. The editing and proofreading are finished; now the production and marketing begin. The book will be formally released August 27, but we will be distributing copies of it at our workshops beginning in July. Between now and then, we plan to write a series of blog posts on many of the topics we discuss in the book. These posts will go out...

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by Andie & Al

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Women versus Women, Women Working with Women

Women Are Mean to Each Other — Or So We Are Told

The initial research for our book It’s Not You, It’s the Workplace was focused on why women so often report they are dissatisfied with their same-gender workplace relationships. We began by digging into the raft of popular “self-help” books that argue that women have frequent workplace conflicts with other women because they are fundamentally antagonistic to one another. The books in this genre paint an ugly picture of women’s basic nature: Mean Girls at Work; Working with Bitches; Woman’s Inhumanity...

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by Andie & Al

millennial woman making dinner with two small children

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Equality & Diversity, Sexism

Are Millennials Egalitarians at Home?

Gender bias is most often associated with the workplace, where discriminatory standards and expectations affect perceptions of women’s and men’s competencies, achievements, and potentials. But gender bias also operates at home by creating discriminatory standards and expectations about women’s and men’s duties and roles. As a result, the bulk of housework and childcare has historically fallen on mothers. Recently, however, several studies have reported that millennials are egalitarians with respect to the allocation of domestic responsibilities. For example, researchers report...

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by Andie & Al

woman boss teaching millennial men and other workers at meeting

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Equality & Diversity, Fighting Stereotypes & Breaking Biases, Leadership & Management, Sexism

Don’t Count on Millennials to End Gender Bias

Millennial men—those born roughly between the early 1980s and the late 1990s—are often said to be far more egalitarian with respect to gender than their older counterparts. For example, Boston Consulting Group reported in 2017 that “men younger than 40 are far more attuned than older men to the obstacles women face in the workplace,” and “are more willing to change their behavior to make the interventions [needed to reduce those obstacles] succeed.” Likewise, in a paper prepared for the Council...

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by Andie & Al

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Compensation & Promotion, Fighting Stereotypes & Breaking Biases, Gender Communication Techniques

How Women Can Talk Themselves Out of Speech-Based Gender Biases

In her book Feminist Fight Club, recently excerpted on Fast Company, author Jessica Bennett writes about the “persistent double standard” that women face in the office every time they open their mouths: Use too many stereotypically “feminine” speech patterns, and you risk falling victim to gender bias and undercutting your authority. But carefully prune those habits out of the way you talk, and you not only sacrifice your own authenticity but risk being penalized by those same sexist biases as...

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by Andie & Al

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#MeToo, Harassment, Leadership & Management, Office Politics

Why Male Mentors in the #MeToo Era Must “Engage More, Not Run for the Hills”

A few years ago, David M. Yousem thought nothing of having a closed-door mentoring session with a young female scientist. Now, he asks if she would be more comfortable with the door open or closed. A naturally effusive person, he knows better than to compliment a woman on her springlike attire or to offer a congratulatory hug for a paper that’s been accepted in a prestigious journal when a thumbs up will do. For Yousem, a professor of radiology at the Johns...

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by Andie & Al

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Advocating for Yourself, Equality & Diversity, Fighting Stereotypes & Breaking Biases, Sexism, Stereotype Threat

Rules Are Not Self-Enforcing

Serena Williams broke three rules in her September 8th final match at the U.S. Open. She received coaching signals, broke her racquet, and “verbally abused” the chair umpire calling him a “thief.” All three of these actions are in violation of the Grand Slam Code of Conduct. But rules are not self-enforcing; someone has to determine there has been a violation and then decide whether further action should be taken. So the question in Williams’ case is not whether she broke...

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by Andie & Al

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Fighting Stereotypes & Breaking Biases, Gender Communication Techniques, Life Balance & Positive Mindsets, Sexism, Stereotype Threat

The Apple in the Room: Avoiding the Temptation to Buy into Traditional Gender Stereotypes

When women think about the impact of gender stereotypes in the workplace, they often think about what they can do to avoid, overcome, or confront the workplace biases that flow from them. We’re addressing these biases and offering suggestions for dealing with them by using attuned gender communication. But women focusing on the stereotypes that other people have about them should not obscure the importance of the stereotypes that women have about themselves: their talents, capacities, resources, and appropriate objectives...

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by Andie & Al

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#MeToo, Compensation & Promotion, Equality & Diversity, Fighting Stereotypes & Breaking Biases, Harassment, Leadership & Management, Office Politics

How Do Your Workers Feel about Sexual Harassment? Ask Them

If your business is serious about eliminating the risk of sexual harassment — and it should be — you need to approach the problem comprehensively. This means recognizing that sexual harassment is part of a continuum of interconnected behaviors that range from gender bias to incivility to legally actionable assault. All these kinds of misconduct should be addressed collectively because sexual harassment is far more likely in organizations that experience offenses on the “less severe” end of the spectrum than...

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by Andie & Al