THE presence of a male gender equality "ally" may be critical to women's integration in the workplace, according to a new study published in Social Psychological and Personality Science.
The difference it can make is said to come down to a few things.
"Simply communicating that you care about gender equality and intend to act as an ally for women can make a difference for women's feelings of inclusion in male-dominated spaces," outlines Charlotte Moser, researcher at the University of Kansas.
Men could indeed be important allies in the fight against women feeling isolated or marginalised at work because of their gender. To come up with this finding, the researchers conducted three studies, on a sample of 241,393, and 398 women successively.
In each study, the selected women were asked to imagine that they had received a job offer. They were then randomly assigned to view flip charts of their future colleagues, showing either an all-male team or a gender-balanced staff.
In some teams, a man expressed support for gender equality, while in others, no colleague mentioned the issue. Participants then completed a questionnaire to indicate the extent to which they would feel isolated or supported by colleagues in the company.
And the results of these three surveys were enlightening in terms of the impact of men's behaviour – with respect to gender equality – on women's well-being at work.
"We found that stating allyship intentions significantly reduced women's anticipation of workplace harassment and hostility," Moser said. "Our work also demonstrates that these male allies set norms of equality for an organisation."
Far from the paternalistic role that could be attributed to them, the survey showed that men instead could have a real role of increasing support and respect.
While many existing studies focus on reactions to events such as misogynistic comments or sexist hiring decisions, this research shows that men do not need to wait for an overtly sexist event to occur to become an effective ally.
Awareness and taking a proactive approach could be fundamental when it comes to men's support of women in the workplace.
"This is important," Moser says, "because it means that men can harness their privileged status to make these contexts more welcoming for women." – ETX Studio, August 12, 2021
