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Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Twenty years of gender equality research: A scoping review based on a new semantic indicator

Contributed equally to this work with: Paola Belingheri, Filippo Chiarello, Andrea Fronzetti Colladon, Paola Rovelli

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Energia, dei Sistemi, del Territorio e delle Costruzioni, Università degli Studi di Pisa, Largo L. Lazzarino, Pisa, Italy

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Software, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliations Department of Engineering, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy, Department of Management, Kozminski University, Warsaw, Poland

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Faculty of Economics and Management, Centre for Family Business Management, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bozen-Bolzano, Italy

• Paola Belingheri, 
• Filippo Chiarello, 
• Andrea Fronzetti Colladon, 
• Paola Rovelli

• Published: September 21, 2021
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256474
• Reader Comments

9 Nov 2021: The PLOS ONE Staff (2021) Correction: Twenty years of gender equality research: A scoping review based on a new semantic indicator. PLOS ONE 16(11): e0259930. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259930 View correction

Gender equality is a major problem that places women at a disadvantage thereby stymieing economic growth and societal advancement. In the last two decades, extensive research has been conducted on gender related issues, studying both their antecedents and consequences. However, existing literature reviews fail to provide a comprehensive and clear picture of what has been studied so far, which could guide scholars in their future research. Our paper offers a scoping review of a large portion of the research that has been published over the last 22 years, on gender equality and related issues, with a specific focus on business and economics studies. Combining innovative methods drawn from both network analysis and text mining, we provide a synthesis of 15,465 scientific articles. We identify 27 main research topics, we measure their relevance from a semantic point of view and the relationships among them, highlighting the importance of each topic in the overall gender discourse. We find that prominent research topics mostly relate to women in the workforce–e.g., concerning compensation, role, education, decision-making and career progression. However, some of them are losing momentum, and some other research trends–for example related to female entrepreneurship, leadership and participation in the board of directors–are on the rise. Besides introducing a novel methodology to review broad literature streams, our paper offers a map of the main gender-research trends and presents the most popular and the emerging themes, as well as their intersections, outlining important avenues for future research.

Citation: Belingheri P, Chiarello F, Fronzetti Colladon A, Rovelli P (2021) Twenty years of gender equality research: A scoping review based on a new semantic indicator. PLoS ONE 16(9): e0256474. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256474

Editor: Elisa Ughetto, Politecnico di Torino, ITALY

Received: June 25, 2021; Accepted: August 6, 2021; Published: September 21, 2021

Copyright: © 2021 Belingheri et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the manuscript and its supporting information files. The only exception is the text of the abstracts (over 15,000) that we have downloaded from Scopus. These abstracts can be retrieved from Scopus, but we do not have permission to redistribute them.

Funding: P.B and F.C.: Grant of the Department of Energy, Systems, Territory and Construction of the University of Pisa (DESTEC) for the project “Measuring Gender Bias with Semantic Analysis: The Development of an Assessment Tool and its Application in the European Space Industry. P.B., F.C., A.F.C., P.R.: Grant of the Italian Association of Management Engineering (AiIG), “Misure di sostegno ai soci giovani AiIG” 2020, for the project “Gender Equality Through Data Intelligence (GEDI)”. F.C.: EU project ASSETs+ Project (Alliance for Strategic Skills addressing Emerging Technologies in Defence) EAC/A03/2018 - Erasmus+ programme, Sector Skills Alliances, Lot 3: Sector Skills Alliance for implementing a new strategic approach (Blueprint) to sectoral cooperation on skills G.A. NUMBER: 612678-EPP-1-2019-1-IT-EPPKA2-SSA-B.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

The persistent gender inequalities that currently exist across the developed and developing world are receiving increasing attention from economists, policymakers, and the general public [e.g., 1 – 3 ]. Economic studies have indicated that women’s education and entry into the workforce contributes to social and economic well-being [e.g., 4 , 5 ], while their exclusion from the labor market and from managerial positions has an impact on overall labor productivity and income per capita [ 6 , 7 ]. The United Nations selected gender equality, with an emphasis on female education, as part of the Millennium Development Goals [ 8 ], and gender equality at-large as one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030 [ 9 ]. These latter objectives involve not only developing nations, but rather all countries, to achieve economic, social and environmental well-being.

As is the case with many SDGs, gender equality is still far from being achieved and persists across education, access to opportunities, or presence in decision-making positions [ 7 , 10 , 11 ]. As we enter the last decade for the SDGs’ implementation, and while we are battling a global health pandemic, effective and efficient action becomes paramount to reach this ambitious goal.

Scholars have dedicated a massive effort towards understanding gender equality, its determinants, its consequences for women and society, and the appropriate actions and policies to advance women’s equality. Many topics have been covered, ranging from women’s education and human capital [ 12 , 13 ] and their role in society [e.g., 14 , 15 ], to their appointment in firms’ top ranked positions [e.g., 16 , 17 ] and performance implications [e.g., 18 , 19 ]. Despite some attempts, extant literature reviews provide a narrow view on these issues, restricted to specific topics–e.g., female students’ presence in STEM fields [ 20 ], educational gender inequality [ 5 ], the gender pay gap [ 21 ], the glass ceiling effect [ 22 ], leadership [ 23 ], entrepreneurship [ 24 ], women’s presence on the board of directors [ 25 , 26 ], diversity management [ 27 ], gender stereotypes in advertisement [ 28 ], or specific professions [ 29 ]. A comprehensive view on gender-related research, taking stock of key findings and under-studied topics is thus lacking.

Extant literature has also highlighted that gender issues, and their economic and social ramifications, are complex topics that involve a large number of possible antecedents and outcomes [ 7 ]. Indeed, gender equality actions are most effective when implemented in unison with other SDGs (e.g., with SDG 8, see [ 30 ]) in a synergetic perspective [ 10 ]. Many bodies of literature (e.g., business, economics, development studies, sociology and psychology) approach the problem of achieving gender equality from different perspectives–often addressing specific and narrow aspects. This sometimes leads to a lack of clarity about how different issues, circumstances, and solutions may be related in precipitating or mitigating gender inequality or its effects. As the number of papers grows at an increasing pace, this issue is exacerbated and there is a need to step back and survey the body of gender equality literature as a whole. There is also a need to examine synergies between different topics and approaches, as well as gaps in our understanding of how different problems and solutions work together. Considering the important topic of women’s economic and social empowerment, this paper aims to fill this gap by answering the following research question: what are the most relevant findings in the literature on gender equality and how do they relate to each other ?

To do so, we conduct a scoping review [ 31 ], providing a synthesis of 15,465 articles dealing with gender equity related issues published in the last twenty-two years, covering both the periods of the MDGs and the SDGs (i.e., 2000 to mid 2021) in all the journals indexed in the Academic Journal Guide’s 2018 ranking of business and economics journals. Given the huge amount of research conducted on the topic, we adopt an innovative methodology, which relies on social network analysis and text mining. These techniques are increasingly adopted when surveying large bodies of text. Recently, they were applied to perform analysis of online gender communication differences [ 32 ] and gender behaviors in online technology communities [ 33 ], to identify and classify sexual harassment instances in academia [ 34 ], and to evaluate the gender inclusivity of disaster management policies [ 35 ].

Applied to the title, abstracts and keywords of the articles in our sample, this methodology allows us to identify a set of 27 recurrent topics within which we automatically classify the papers. Introducing additional novelty, by means of the Semantic Brand Score (SBS) indicator [ 36 ] and the SBS BI app [ 37 ], we assess the importance of each topic in the overall gender equality discourse and its relationships with the other topics, as well as trends over time, with a more accurate description than that offered by traditional literature reviews relying solely on the number of papers presented in each topic.

This methodology, applied to gender equality research spanning the past twenty-two years, enables two key contributions. First, we extract the main message that each document is conveying and how this is connected to other themes in literature, providing a rich picture of the topics that are at the center of the discourse, as well as of the emerging topics. Second, by examining the semantic relationship between topics and how tightly their discourses are linked, we can identify the key relationships and connections between different topics. This semi-automatic methodology is also highly reproducible with minimum effort.

This literature review is organized as follows. In the next section, we present how we selected relevant papers and how we analyzed them through text mining and social network analysis. We then illustrate the importance of 27 selected research topics, measured by means of the SBS indicator. In the results section, we present an overview of the literature based on the SBS results–followed by an in-depth narrative analysis of the top 10 topics (i.e., those with the highest SBS) and their connections. Subsequently, we highlight a series of under-studied connections between the topics where there is potential for future research. Through this analysis, we build a map of the main gender-research trends in the last twenty-two years–presenting the most popular themes. We conclude by highlighting key areas on which research should focused in the future.

Our aim is to map a broad topic, gender equality research, that has been approached through a host of different angles and through different disciplines. Scoping reviews are the most appropriate as they provide the freedom to map different themes and identify literature gaps, thereby guiding the recommendation of new research agendas [ 38 ].

Several practical approaches have been proposed to identify and assess the underlying topics of a specific field using big data [ 39 – 41 ], but many of them fail without proper paper retrieval and text preprocessing. This is specifically true for a research field such as the gender-related one, which comprises the work of scholars from different backgrounds. In this section, we illustrate a novel approach for the analysis of scientific (gender-related) papers that relies on methods and tools of social network analysis and text mining. Our procedure has four main steps: (1) data collection, (2) text preprocessing, (3) keywords extraction and classification, and (4) evaluation of semantic importance and image.

Data collection

In this study, we analyze 22 years of literature on gender-related research. Following established practice for scoping reviews [ 42 ], our data collection consisted of two main steps, which we summarize here below.

Firstly, we retrieved from the Scopus database all the articles written in English that contained the term “gender” in their title, abstract or keywords and were published in a journal listed in the Academic Journal Guide 2018 ranking of the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS) ( https://charteredabs.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/AJG2018-Methodology.pdf ), considering the time period from Jan 2000 to May 2021. We used this information considering that abstracts, titles and keywords represent the most informative part of a paper, while using the full-text would increase the signal-to-noise ratio for information extraction. Indeed, these textual elements already demonstrated to be reliable sources of information for the task of domain lexicon extraction [ 43 , 44 ]. We chose Scopus as source of literature because of its popularity, its update rate, and because it offers an API to ease the querying process. Indeed, while it does not allow to retrieve the full text of scientific articles, the Scopus API offers access to titles, abstracts, citation information and metadata for all its indexed scholarly journals. Moreover, we decided to focus on the journals listed in the AJG 2018 ranking because we were interested in reviewing business and economics related gender studies only. The AJG is indeed widely used by universities and business schools as a reference point for journal and research rigor and quality. This first step, executed in June 2021, returned more than 55,000 papers.

In the second step–because a look at the papers showed very sparse results, many of which were not in line with the topic of this literature review (e.g., papers dealing with health care or medical issues, where the word gender indicates the gender of the patients)–we applied further inclusion criteria to make the sample more focused on the topic of this literature review (i.e., women’s gender equality issues). Specifically, we only retained those papers mentioning, in their title and/or abstract, both gender-related keywords (e.g., daughter, female, mother) and keywords referring to bias and equality issues (e.g., equality, bias, diversity, inclusion). After text pre-processing (see next section), keywords were first identified from a frequency-weighted list of words found in the titles, abstracts and keywords in the initial list of papers, extracted through text mining (following the same approach as [ 43 ]). They were selected by two of the co-authors independently, following respectively a bottom up and a top-down approach. The bottom-up approach consisted of examining the words found in the frequency-weighted list and classifying those related to gender and equality. The top-down approach consisted in searching in the word list for notable gender and equality-related words. Table 1 reports the sets of keywords we considered, together with some examples of words that were used to search for their presence in the dataset (a full list is provided in the S1 Text ). At end of this second step, we obtained a final sample of 15,465 relevant papers.

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256474.t001

Text processing and keyword extraction

Text preprocessing aims at structuring text into a form that can be analyzed by statistical models. In the present section, we describe the preprocessing steps we applied to paper titles and abstracts, which, as explained below, partially follow a standard text preprocessing pipeline [ 45 ]. These activities have been performed using the R package udpipe [ 46 ].

The first step is n-gram extraction (i.e., a sequence of words from a given text sample) to identify which n-grams are important in the analysis, since domain-specific lexicons are often composed by bi-grams and tri-grams [ 47 ]. Multi-word extraction is usually implemented with statistics and linguistic rules, thus using the statistical properties of n-grams or machine learning approaches [ 48 ]. However, for the present paper, we used Scopus metadata in order to have a more effective and efficient n-grams collection approach [ 49 ]. We used the keywords of each paper in order to tag n-grams with their associated keywords automatically. Using this greedy approach, it was possible to collect all the keywords listed by the authors of the papers. From this list, we extracted only keywords composed by two, three and four words, we removed all the acronyms and rare keywords (i.e., appearing in less than 1% of papers), and we clustered keywords showing a high orthographic similarity–measured using a Levenshtein distance [ 50 ] lower than 2, considering these groups of keywords as representing same concepts, but expressed with different spelling. After tagging the n-grams in the abstracts, we followed a common data preparation pipeline that consists of the following steps: (i) tokenization, that splits the text into tokens (i.e., single words and previously tagged multi-words); (ii) removal of stop-words (i.e. those words that add little meaning to the text, usually being very common and short functional words–such as “and”, “or”, or “of”); (iii) parts-of-speech tagging, that is providing information concerning the morphological role of a word and its morphosyntactic context (e.g., if the token is a determiner, the next token is a noun or an adjective with very high confidence, [ 51 ]); and (iv) lemmatization, which consists in substituting each word with its dictionary form (or lemma). The output of the latter step allows grouping together the inflected forms of a word. For example, the verbs “am”, “are”, and “is” have the shared lemma “be”, or the nouns “cat” and “cats” both share the lemma “cat”. We preferred lemmatization over stemming [ 52 ] in order to obtain more interpretable results.

In addition, we identified a further set of keywords (with respect to those listed in the “keywords” field) by applying a series of automatic words unification and removal steps, as suggested in past research [ 53 , 54 ]. We removed: sparse terms (i.e., occurring in less than 0.1% of all documents), common terms (i.e., occurring in more than 10% of all documents) and retained only nouns and adjectives. It is relevant to notice that no document was lost due to these steps. We then used the TF-IDF function [ 55 ] to produce a new list of keywords. We additionally tested other approaches for the identification and clustering of keywords–such as TextRank [ 56 ] or Latent Dirichlet Allocation [ 57 ]–without obtaining more informative results.

Classification of research topics

To guide the literature analysis, two experts met regularly to examine the sample of collected papers and to identify the main topics and trends in gender research. Initially, they conducted brainstorming sessions on the topics they expected to find, due to their knowledge of the literature. This led to an initial list of topics. Subsequently, the experts worked independently, also supported by the keywords in paper titles and abstracts extracted with the procedure described above.

Considering all this information, each expert identified and clustered relevant keywords into topics. At the end of the process, the two assignments were compared and exhibited a 92% agreement. Another meeting was held to discuss discordant cases and reach a consensus. This resulted in a list of 27 topics, briefly introduced in Table 2 and subsequently detailed in the following sections.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256474.t002

Evaluation of semantic importance

Working on the lemmatized corpus of the 15,465 papers included in our sample, we proceeded with the evaluation of semantic importance trends for each topic and with the analysis of their connections and prevalent textual associations. To this aim, we used the Semantic Brand Score indicator [ 36 ], calculated through the SBS BI webapp [ 37 ] that also produced a brand image report for each topic. For this study we relied on the computing resources of the ENEA/CRESCO infrastructure [ 58 ].

The Semantic Brand Score (SBS) is a measure of semantic importance that combines methods of social network analysis and text mining. It is usually applied for the analysis of (big) textual data to evaluate the importance of one or more brands, names, words, or sets of keywords [ 36 ]. Indeed, the concept of “brand” is intended in a flexible way and goes beyond products or commercial brands. In this study, we evaluate the SBS time-trends of the keywords defining the research topics discussed in the previous section. Semantic importance comprises the three dimensions of topic prevalence, diversity and connectivity. Prevalence measures how frequently a research topic is used in the discourse. The more a topic is mentioned by scientific articles, the more the research community will be aware of it, with possible increase of future studies; this construct is partly related to that of brand awareness [ 59 ]. This effect is even stronger, considering that we are analyzing the title, abstract and keywords of the papers, i.e. the parts that have the highest visibility. A very important characteristic of the SBS is that it considers the relationships among words in a text. Topic importance is not just a matter of how frequently a topic is mentioned, but also of the associations a topic has in the text. Specifically, texts are transformed into networks of co-occurring words, and relationships are studied through social network analysis [ 60 ]. This step is necessary to calculate the other two dimensions of our semantic importance indicator. Accordingly, a social network of words is generated for each time period considered in the analysis–i.e., a graph made of n nodes (words) and E edges weighted by co-occurrence frequency, with W being the set of edge weights. The keywords representing each topic were clustered into single nodes.

The construct of diversity relates to that of brand image [ 59 ], in the sense that it considers the richness and distinctiveness of textual (topic) associations. Considering the above-mentioned networks, we calculated diversity using the distinctiveness centrality metric–as in the formula presented by Fronzetti Colladon and Naldi [ 61 ].

Lastly, connectivity was measured as the weighted betweenness centrality [ 62 , 63 ] of each research topic node. We used the formula presented by Wasserman and Faust [ 60 ]. The dimension of connectivity represents the “brokerage power” of each research topic–i.e., how much it can serve as a bridge to connect other terms (and ultimately topics) in the discourse [ 36 ].

The SBS is the final composite indicator obtained by summing the standardized scores of prevalence, diversity and connectivity. Standardization was carried out considering all the words in the corpus, for each specific timeframe.

This methodology, applied to a large and heterogeneous body of text, enables to automatically identify two important sets of information that add value to the literature review. Firstly, the relevance of each topic in literature is measured through a composite indicator of semantic importance, rather than simply looking at word frequencies. This provides a much richer picture of the topics that are at the center of the discourse, as well as of the topics that are emerging in the literature. Secondly, it enables to examine the extent of the semantic relationship between topics, looking at how tightly their discourses are linked. In a field such as gender equality, where many topics are closely linked to each other and present overlaps in issues and solutions, this methodology offers a novel perspective with respect to traditional literature reviews. In addition, it ensures reproducibility over time and the possibility to semi-automatically update the analysis, as new papers become available.

Overview of main topics

In terms of descriptive textual statistics, our corpus is made of 15,465 text documents, consisting of a total of 2,685,893 lemmatized tokens (words) and 32,279 types. As a result, the type-token ratio is 1.2%. The number of hapaxes is 12,141, with a hapax-token ratio of 37.61%.

Fig 1 shows the list of 27 topics by decreasing SBS. The most researched topic is compensation , exceeding all others in prevalence, diversity, and connectivity. This means it is not only mentioned more often than other topics, but it is also connected to a greater number of other topics and is central to the discourse on gender equality. The next four topics are, in order of SBS, role , education , decision-making , and career progression . These topics, except for education , all concern women in the workforce. Between these first five topics and the following ones there is a clear drop in SBS scores. In particular, the topics that follow have a lower connectivity than the first five. They are hiring , performance , behavior , organization , and human capital . Again, except for behavior and human capital , the other three topics are purely related to women in the workforce. After another drop-off, the following topics deal prevalently with women in society. This trend highlights that research on gender in business journals has so far mainly paid attention to the conditions that women experience in business contexts, while also devoting some attention to women in society.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256474.g001

Fig 2 shows the SBS time series of the top 10 topics. While there has been a general increase in the number of Scopus-indexed publications in the last decade, we notice that some SBS trends remain steady, or even decrease. In particular, we observe that the main topic of the last twenty-two years, compensation , is losing momentum. Since 2016, it has been surpassed by decision-making , education and role , which may indicate that literature is increasingly attempting to identify root causes of compensation inequalities. Moreover, in the last two years, the topics of hiring , performance , and organization are experiencing the largest importance increase.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256474.g002

Fig 3 shows the SBS time trends of the remaining 17 topics (i.e., those not in the top 10). As we can see from the graph, there are some that maintain a steady trend–such as reputation , management , networks and governance , which also seem to have little importance. More relevant topics with average stationary trends (except for the last two years) are culture , family , and parenting . The feminine topic is among the most important here, and one of those that exhibit the larger variations over time (similarly to leadership ). On the other hand, the are some topics that, even if not among the most important, show increasing SBS trends; therefore, they could be considered as emerging topics and could become popular in the near future. These are entrepreneurship , leadership , board of directors , and sustainability . These emerging topics are also interesting to anticipate future trends in gender equality research that are conducive to overall equality in society.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256474.g003

In addition to the SBS score of the different topics, the network of terms they are associated to enables to gauge the extent to which their images (textual associations) overlap or differ ( Fig 4 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256474.g004

There is a central cluster of topics with high similarity, which are all connected with women in the workforce. The cluster includes topics such as organization , decision-making , performance , hiring , human capital , education and compensation . In addition, the topic of well-being is found within this cluster, suggesting that women’s equality in the workforce is associated to well-being considerations. The emerging topics of entrepreneurship and leadership are also closely connected with each other, possibly implying that leadership is a much-researched quality in female entrepreneurship. Topics that are relatively more distant include personality , politics , feminine , empowerment , management , board of directors , reputation , governance , parenting , masculine and network .

The following sections describe the top 10 topics and their main associations in literature (see Table 3 ), while providing a brief overview of the emerging topics.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256474.t003

Compensation.

The topic of compensation is related to the topics of role , hiring , education and career progression , however, also sees a very high association with the words gap and inequality . Indeed, a well-known debate in degrowth economics centers around whether and how to adequately compensate women for their childbearing, childrearing, caregiver and household work [e.g., 30 ].

Even in paid work, women continue being offered lower compensations than their male counterparts who have the same job or cover the same role [ 64 – 67 ]. This severe inequality has been widely studied by scholars over the last twenty-two years. Dealing with this topic, some specific roles have been addressed. Specifically, research highlighted differences in compensation between female and male CEOs [e.g., 68 ], top executives [e.g., 69 ], and boards’ directors [e.g., 70 ]. Scholars investigated the determinants of these gaps, such as the gender composition of the board [e.g., 71 – 73 ] or women’s individual characteristics [e.g., 71 , 74 ].

Among these individual characteristics, education plays a relevant role [ 75 ]. Education is indeed presented as the solution for women, not only to achieve top executive roles, but also to reduce wage inequality [e.g., 76 , 77 ]. Past research has highlighted education influences on gender wage gaps, specifically referring to gender differences in skills [e.g., 78 ], college majors [e.g., 79 ], and college selectivity [e.g., 80 ].

Finally, the wage gap issue is strictly interrelated with hiring –e.g., looking at whether being a mother affects hiring and compensation [e.g., 65 , 81 ] or relating compensation to unemployment [e.g., 82 ]–and career progression –for instance looking at meritocracy [ 83 , 84 ] or the characteristics of the boss for whom women work [e.g., 85 ].

The roles covered by women have been deeply investigated. Scholars have focused on the role of women in their families and the society as a whole [e.g., 14 , 15 ], and, more widely, in business contexts [e.g., 18 , 81 ]. Indeed, despite still lagging behind their male counterparts [e.g., 86 , 87 ], in the last decade there has been an increase in top ranked positions achieved by women [e.g., 88 , 89 ]. Following this phenomenon, scholars have posed greater attention towards the presence of women in the board of directors [e.g., 16 , 18 , 90 , 91 ], given the increasing pressure to appoint female directors that firms, especially listed ones, have experienced. Other scholars have focused on the presence of women covering the role of CEO [e.g., 17 , 92 ] or being part of the top management team [e.g., 93 ]. Irrespectively of the level of analysis, all these studies tried to uncover the antecedents of women’s presence among top managers [e.g., 92 , 94 ] and the consequences of having a them involved in the firm’s decision-making –e.g., on performance [e.g., 19 , 95 , 96 ], risk [e.g., 97 , 98 ], and corporate social responsibility [e.g., 99 , 100 ].

Besides studying the difficulties and discriminations faced by women in getting a job [ 81 , 101 ], and, more specifically in the hiring , appointment, or career progression to these apical roles [e.g., 70 , 83 ], the majority of research of women’s roles dealt with compensation issues. Specifically, scholars highlight the pay-gap that still exists between women and men, both in general [e.g., 64 , 65 ], as well as referring to boards’ directors [e.g., 70 , 102 ], CEOs and executives [e.g., 69 , 103 , 104 ].

Finally, other scholars focused on the behavior of women when dealing with business. In this sense, particular attention has been paid to leadership and entrepreneurial behaviors. The former quite overlaps with dealing with the roles mentioned above, but also includes aspects such as leaders being stereotyped as masculine [e.g., 105 ], the need for greater exposure to female leaders to reduce biases [e.g., 106 ], or female leaders acting as queen bees [e.g., 107 ]. Regarding entrepreneurship , scholars mainly investigated women’s entrepreneurial entry [e.g., 108 , 109 ], differences between female and male entrepreneurs in the evaluations and funding received from investors [e.g., 110 , 111 ], and their performance gap [e.g., 112 , 113 ].

Education has long been recognized as key to social advancement and economic stability [ 114 ], for job progression and also a barrier to gender equality, especially in STEM-related fields. Research on education and gender equality is mostly linked with the topics of compensation , human capital , career progression , hiring , parenting and decision-making .

Education contributes to a higher human capital [ 115 ] and constitutes an investment on the part of women towards their future. In this context, literature points to the gender gap in educational attainment, and the consequences for women from a social, economic, personal and professional standpoint. Women are found to have less access to formal education and information, especially in emerging countries, which in turn may cause them to lose social and economic opportunities [e.g., 12 , 116 – 119 ]. Education in local and rural communities is also paramount to communicate the benefits of female empowerment , contributing to overall societal well-being [e.g., 120 ].

Once women access education, the image they have of the world and their place in society (i.e., habitus) affects their education performance [ 13 ] and is passed on to their children. These situations reinforce gender stereotypes, which become self-fulfilling prophecies that may negatively affect female students’ performance by lowering their confidence and heightening their anxiety [ 121 , 122 ]. Besides formal education, also the information that women are exposed to on a daily basis contributes to their human capital . Digital inequalities, for instance, stems from men spending more time online and acquiring higher digital skills than women [ 123 ].

Education is also a factor that should boost employability of candidates and thus hiring , career progression and compensation , however the relationship between these factors is not straightforward [ 115 ]. First, educational choices ( decision-making ) are influenced by variables such as self-efficacy and the presence of barriers, irrespectively of the career opportunities they offer, especially in STEM [ 124 ]. This brings additional difficulties to women’s enrollment and persistence in scientific and technical fields of study due to stereotypes and biases [ 125 , 126 ]. Moreover, access to education does not automatically translate into job opportunities for women and minority groups [ 127 , 128 ] or into female access to managerial positions [ 129 ].

Finally, parenting is reported as an antecedent of education [e.g., 130 ], with much of the literature focusing on the role of parents’ education on the opportunities afforded to children to enroll in education [ 131 – 134 ] and the role of parenting in their offspring’s perception of study fields and attitudes towards learning [ 135 – 138 ]. Parental education is also a predictor of the other related topics, namely human capital and compensation [ 139 ].

Decision-making.

This literature mainly points to the fact that women are thought to make decisions differently than men. Women have indeed different priorities, such as they care more about people’s well-being, working with people or helping others, rather than maximizing their personal (or their firm’s) gain [ 140 ]. In other words, women typically present more communal than agentic behaviors, which are instead more frequent among men [ 141 ]. These different attitude, behavior and preferences in turn affect the decisions they make [e.g., 142 ] and the decision-making of the firm in which they work [e.g., 143 ].

At the individual level, gender affects, for instance, career aspirations [e.g., 144 ] and choices [e.g., 142 , 145 ], or the decision of creating a venture [e.g., 108 , 109 , 146 ]. Moreover, in everyday life, women and men make different decisions regarding partners [e.g., 147 ], childcare [e.g., 148 ], education [e.g., 149 ], attention to the environment [e.g., 150 ] and politics [e.g., 151 ].

At the firm level, scholars highlighted, for example, how the presence of women in the board affects corporate decisions [e.g., 152 , 153 ], that female CEOs are more conservative in accounting decisions [e.g., 154 ], or that female CFOs tend to make more conservative decisions regarding the firm’s financial reporting [e.g., 155 ]. Nevertheless, firm level research also investigated decisions that, influenced by gender bias, affect women, such as those pertaining hiring [e.g., 156 , 157 ], compensation [e.g., 73 , 158 ], or the empowerment of women once appointed [ 159 ].

Career progression.

Once women have entered the workforce, the key aspect to achieve gender equality becomes career progression , including efforts toward overcoming the glass ceiling. Indeed, according to the SBS analysis, career progression is highly related to words such as work, social issues and equality. The topic with which it has the highest semantic overlap is role , followed by decision-making , hiring , education , compensation , leadership , human capital , and family .

Career progression implies an advancement in the hierarchical ladder of the firm, assigning managerial roles to women. Coherently, much of the literature has focused on identifying rationales for a greater female participation in the top management team and board of directors [e.g., 95 ] as well as the best criteria to ensure that the decision-makers promote the most valuable employees irrespectively of their individual characteristics, such as gender [e.g., 84 ]. The link between career progression , role and compensation is often provided in practice by performance appraisal exercises, frequently rooted in a culture of meritocracy that guides bonuses, salary increases and promotions. However, performance appraisals can actually mask gender-biased decisions where women are held to higher standards than their male colleagues [e.g., 83 , 84 , 95 , 160 , 161 ]. Women often have less opportunities to gain leadership experience and are less visible than their male colleagues, which constitute barriers to career advancement [e.g., 162 ]. Therefore, transparency and accountability, together with procedures that discourage discretionary choices, are paramount to achieve a fair career progression [e.g., 84 ], together with the relaxation of strict job boundaries in favor of cross-functional and self-directed tasks [e.g., 163 ].

In addition, a series of stereotypes about the type of leadership characteristics that are required for top management positions, which fit better with typical male and agentic attributes, are another key barrier to career advancement for women [e.g., 92 , 160 ].

Hiring is the entrance gateway for women into the workforce. Therefore, it is related to other workforce topics such as compensation , role , career progression , decision-making , human capital , performance , organization and education .

A first stream of literature focuses on the process leading up to candidates’ job applications, demonstrating that bias exists before positions are even opened, and it is perpetuated both by men and women through networking and gatekeeping practices [e.g., 164 , 165 ].

The hiring process itself is also subject to biases [ 166 ], for example gender-congruity bias that leads to men being preferred candidates in male-dominated sectors [e.g., 167 ], women being hired in positions with higher risk of failure [e.g., 168 ] and limited transparency and accountability afforded by written processes and procedures [e.g., 164 ] that all contribute to ascriptive inequality. In addition, providing incentives for evaluators to hire women may actually work to this end; however, this is not the case when supporting female candidates endangers higher-ranking male ones [ 169 ].

Another interesting perspective, instead, looks at top management teams’ composition and the effects on hiring practices, indicating that firms with more women in top management are less likely to lay off staff [e.g., 152 ].

Performance.

Several scholars posed their attention towards women’s performance, its consequences [e.g., 170 , 171 ] and the implications of having women in decision-making positions [e.g., 18 , 19 ].

At the individual level, research focused on differences in educational and academic performance between women and men, especially referring to the gender gap in STEM fields [e.g., 171 ]. The presence of stereotype threats–that is the expectation that the members of a social group (e.g., women) “must deal with the possibility of being judged or treated stereotypically, or of doing something that would confirm the stereotype” [ 172 ]–affects women’s interested in STEM [e.g., 173 ], as well as their cognitive ability tests, penalizing them [e.g., 174 ]. A stronger gender identification enhances this gap [e.g., 175 ], whereas mentoring and role models can be used as solutions to this problem [e.g., 121 ]. Despite the negative effect of stereotype threats on girls’ performance [ 176 ], female and male students perform equally in mathematics and related subjects [e.g., 177 ]. Moreover, while individuals’ performance at school and university generally affects their achievements and the field in which they end up working, evidence reveals that performance in math or other scientific subjects does not explain why fewer women enter STEM working fields; rather this gap depends on other aspects, such as culture, past working experiences, or self-efficacy [e.g., 170 ]. Finally, scholars have highlighted the penalization that women face for their positive performance, for instance when they succeed in traditionally male areas [e.g., 178 ]. This penalization is explained by the violation of gender-stereotypic prescriptions [e.g., 179 , 180 ], that is having women well performing in agentic areas, which are typical associated to men. Performance penalization can thus be overcome by clearly conveying communal characteristics and behaviors [ 178 ].

Evidence has been provided on how the involvement of women in boards of directors and decision-making positions affects firms’ performance. Nevertheless, results are mixed, with some studies showing positive effects on financial [ 19 , 181 , 182 ] and corporate social performance [ 99 , 182 , 183 ]. Other studies maintain a negative association [e.g., 18 ], and other again mixed [e.g., 184 ] or non-significant association [e.g., 185 ]. Also with respect to the presence of a female CEO, mixed results emerged so far, with some researches demonstrating a positive effect on firm’s performance [e.g., 96 , 186 ], while other obtaining only a limited evidence of this relationship [e.g., 103 ] or a negative one [e.g., 187 ].

Finally, some studies have investigated whether and how women’s performance affects their hiring [e.g., 101 ] and career progression [e.g., 83 , 160 ]. For instance, academic performance leads to different returns in hiring for women and men. Specifically, high-achieving men are called back significantly more often than high-achieving women, which are penalized when they have a major in mathematics; this result depends on employers’ gendered standards for applicants [e.g., 101 ]. Once appointed, performance ratings are more strongly related to promotions for women than men, and promoted women typically show higher past performance ratings than those of promoted men. This suggesting that women are subject to stricter standards for promotion [e.g., 160 ].

Behavioral aspects related to gender follow two main streams of literature. The first examines female personality and behavior in the workplace, and their alignment with cultural expectations or stereotypes [e.g., 188 ] as well as their impacts on equality. There is a common bias that depicts women as less agentic than males. Certain characteristics, such as those more congruent with male behaviors–e.g., self-promotion [e.g., 189 ], negotiation skills [e.g., 190 ] and general agentic behavior [e.g., 191 ]–, are less accepted in women. However, characteristics such as individualism in women have been found to promote greater gender equality in society [ 192 ]. In addition, behaviors such as display of emotions [e.g., 193 ], which are stereotypically female, work against women’s acceptance in the workplace, requiring women to carefully moderate their behavior to avoid exclusion. A counter-intuitive result is that women and minorities, which are more marginalized in the workplace, tend to be better problem-solvers in innovation competitions due to their different knowledge bases [ 194 ].

The other side of the coin is examined in a parallel literature stream on behavior towards women in the workplace. As a result of biases, prejudices and stereotypes, women may experience adverse behavior from their colleagues, such as incivility and harassment, which undermine their well-being [e.g., 195 , 196 ]. Biases that go beyond gender, such as for overweight people, are also more strongly applied to women [ 197 ].

Organization.

The role of women and gender bias in organizations has been studied from different perspectives, which mirror those presented in detail in the following sections. Specifically, most research highlighted the stereotypical view of leaders [e.g., 105 ] and the roles played by women within firms, for instance referring to presence in the board of directors [e.g., 18 , 90 , 91 ], appointment as CEOs [e.g., 16 ], or top executives [e.g., 93 ].

Scholars have investigated antecedents and consequences of the presence of women in these apical roles. On the one side they looked at hiring and career progression [e.g., 83 , 92 , 160 , 168 , 198 ], finding women typically disadvantaged with respect to their male counterparts. On the other side, they studied women’s leadership styles and influence on the firm’s decision-making [e.g., 152 , 154 , 155 , 199 ], with implications for performance [e.g., 18 , 19 , 96 ].

Human capital.

Human capital is a transverse topic that touches upon many different aspects of female gender equality. As such, it has the most associations with other topics, starting with education as mentioned above, with career-related topics such as role , decision-making , hiring , career progression , performance , compensation , leadership and organization . Another topic with which there is a close connection is behavior . In general, human capital is approached both from the education standpoint but also from the perspective of social capital.

The behavioral aspect in human capital comprises research related to gender differences for example in cultural and religious beliefs that influence women’s attitudes and perceptions towards STEM subjects [ 142 , 200 – 202 ], towards employment [ 203 ] or towards environmental issues [ 150 , 204 ]. These cultural differences also emerge in the context of globalization which may accelerate gender equality in the workforce [ 205 , 206 ]. Gender differences also appear in behaviors such as motivation [ 207 ], and in negotiation [ 190 ], and have repercussions on women’s decision-making related to their careers. The so-called gender equality paradox sees women in countries with lower gender equality more likely to pursue studies and careers in STEM fields, whereas the gap in STEM enrollment widens as countries achieve greater equality in society [ 171 ].

Career progression is modeled by literature as a choice-process where personal preferences, culture and decision-making affect the chosen path and the outcomes. Some literature highlights how women tend to self-select into different professions than men, often due to stereotypes rather than actual ability to perform in these professions [ 142 , 144 ]. These stereotypes also affect the perceptions of female performance or the amount of human capital required to equal male performance [ 110 , 193 , 208 ], particularly for mothers [ 81 ]. It is therefore often assumed that women are better suited to less visible and less leadership -oriented roles [ 209 ]. Women also express differing preferences towards work-family balance, which affect whether and how they pursue human capital gains [ 210 ], and ultimately their career progression and salary .

On the other hand, men are often unaware of gendered processes and behaviors that they carry forward in their interactions and decision-making [ 211 , 212 ]. Therefore, initiatives aimed at increasing managers’ human capital –by raising awareness of gender disparities in their organizations and engaging them in diversity promotion–are essential steps to counter gender bias and segregation [ 213 ].

Emerging topics: Leadership and entrepreneurship

Among the emerging topics, the most pervasive one is women reaching leadership positions in the workforce and in society. This is still a rare occurrence for two main types of factors, on the one hand, bias and discrimination make it harder for women to access leadership positions [e.g., 214 – 216 ], on the other hand, the competitive nature and high pressure associated with leadership positions, coupled with the lack of women currently represented, reduce women’s desire to achieve them [e.g., 209 , 217 ]. Women are more effective leaders when they have access to education, resources and a diverse environment with representation [e.g., 218 , 219 ].

One sector where there is potential for women to carve out a leadership role is entrepreneurship . Although at the start of the millennium the discourse on entrepreneurship was found to be “discriminatory, gender-biased, ethnocentrically determined and ideologically controlled” [ 220 ], an increasing body of literature is studying how to stimulate female entrepreneurship as an alternative pathway to wealth, leadership and empowerment [e.g., 221 ]. Many barriers exist for women to access entrepreneurship, including the institutional and legal environment, social and cultural factors, access to knowledge and resources, and individual behavior [e.g., 222 , 223 ]. Education has been found to raise women’s entrepreneurial intentions [e.g., 224 ], although this effect is smaller than for men [e.g., 109 ]. In addition, increasing self-efficacy and risk-taking behavior constitute important success factors [e.g., 225 ].

Finally, the topic of sustainability is worth mentioning, as it is the primary objective of the SDGs and is closely associated with societal well-being. As society grapples with the effects of climate change and increasing depletion of natural resources, a narrative has emerged on women and their greater link to the environment [ 226 ]. Studies in developed countries have found some support for women leaders’ attention to sustainability issues in firms [e.g., 227 – 229 ], and smaller resource consumption by women [ 230 ]. At the same time, women will likely be more affected by the consequences of climate change [e.g., 230 ] but often lack the decision-making power to influence local decision-making on resource management and environmental policies [e.g., 231 ].

Research gaps and conclusions

Research on gender equality has advanced rapidly in the past decades, with a steady increase in publications, both in mainstream topics related to women in education and the workforce, and in emerging topics. Through a novel approach combining methods of text mining and social network analysis, we examined a comprehensive body of literature comprising 15,465 papers published between 2000 and mid 2021 on topics related to gender equality. We identified a set of 27 topics addressed by the literature and examined their connections.

At the highest level of abstraction, it is worth noting that papers abound on the identification of issues related to gender inequalities and imbalances in the workforce and in society. Literature has thoroughly examined the (unconscious) biases, barriers, stereotypes, and discriminatory behaviors that women are facing as a result of their gender. Instead, there are much fewer papers that discuss or demonstrate effective solutions to overcome gender bias [e.g., 121 , 143 , 145 , 163 , 194 , 213 , 232 ]. This is partly due to the relative ease in studying the status quo, as opposed to studying changes in the status quo. However, we observed a shift in the more recent years towards solution seeking in this domain, which we strongly encourage future researchers to focus on. In the future, we may focus on collecting and mapping pro-active contributions to gender studies, using additional Natural Language Processing techniques, able to measure the sentiment of scientific papers [ 43 ].

All of the mainstream topics identified in our literature review are closely related, and there is a wealth of insights looking at the intersection between issues such as education and career progression or human capital and role . However, emerging topics are worthy of being furtherly explored. It would be interesting to see more work on the topic of female entrepreneurship , exploring aspects such as education , personality , governance , management and leadership . For instance, how can education support female entrepreneurship? How can self-efficacy and risk-taking behaviors be taught or enhanced? What are the differences in managerial and governance styles of female entrepreneurs? Which personality traits are associated with successful entrepreneurs? Which traits are preferred by venture capitalists and funding bodies?

The emerging topic of sustainability also deserves further attention, as our society struggles with climate change and its consequences. It would be interesting to see more research on the intersection between sustainability and entrepreneurship , looking at how female entrepreneurs are tackling sustainability issues, examining both their business models and their company governance . In addition, scholars are suggested to dig deeper into the relationship between family values and behaviors.

Moreover, it would be relevant to understand how women’s networks (social capital), or the composition and structure of social networks involving both women and men, enable them to increase their remuneration and reach top corporate positions, participate in key decision-making bodies, and have a voice in communities. Furthermore, the achievement of gender equality might significantly change firm networks and ecosystems, with important implications for their performance and survival.

Similarly, research at the nexus of (corporate) governance , career progression , compensation and female empowerment could yield useful insights–for example discussing how enterprises, institutions and countries are managed and the impact for women and other minorities. Are there specific governance structures that favor diversity and inclusion?

Lastly, we foresee an emerging stream of research pertaining how the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic challenged women, especially in the workforce, by making gender biases more evident.

For our analysis, we considered a set of 15,465 articles downloaded from the Scopus database (which is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature). As we were interested in reviewing business and economics related gender studies, we only considered those papers published in journals listed in the Academic Journal Guide (AJG) 2018 ranking of the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS). All the journals listed in this ranking are also indexed by Scopus. Therefore, looking at a single database (i.e., Scopus) should not be considered a limitation of our study. However, future research could consider different databases and inclusion criteria.

With our literature review, we offer researchers a comprehensive map of major gender-related research trends over the past twenty-two years. This can serve as a lens to look to the future, contributing to the achievement of SDG5. Researchers may use our study as a starting point to identify key themes addressed in the literature. In addition, our methodological approach–based on the use of the Semantic Brand Score and its webapp–could support scholars interested in reviewing other areas of research.

Supporting information

S1 text. keywords used for paper selection..

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256474.s001

Acknowledgments

The computing resources and the related technical support used for this work have been provided by CRESCO/ENEAGRID High Performance Computing infrastructure and its staff. CRESCO/ENEAGRID High Performance Computing infrastructure is funded by ENEA, the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development and by Italian and European research programmes (see http://www.cresco.enea.it/english for information).

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Research: How Bias Against Women Persists in Female-Dominated Workplaces

• Amber L. Stephenson,
• Leanne M. Dzubinski

A look inside the ongoing barriers women face in law, health care, faith-based nonprofits, and higher education.

New research examines gender bias within four industries with more female than male workers — law, higher education, faith-based nonprofits, and health care. Having balanced or even greater numbers of women in an organization is not, by itself, changing women’s experiences of bias. Bias is built into the system and continues to operate even when more women than men are present. Leaders can use these findings to create gender-equitable practices and environments which reduce bias. First, replace competition with cooperation. Second, measure success by goals, not by time spent in the office or online. Third, implement equitable reward structures, and provide remote and flexible work with autonomy. Finally, increase transparency in decision making.

It’s been thought that once industries achieve gender balance, bias will decrease and gender gaps will close. Sometimes called the “ add women and stir ” approach, people tend to think that having more women present is all that’s needed to promote change. But simply adding women into a workplace does not change the organizational structures and systems that benefit men more than women . Our new research (to be published in a forthcoming issue of Personnel Review ) shows gender bias is still prevalent in gender-balanced and female-dominated industries.

• Amy Diehl , PhD is chief information officer at Wilson College and a gender equity researcher and speaker. She is coauthor of Glass Walls: Shattering the Six Gender Bias Barriers Still Holding Women Back at Work (Rowman & Littlefield). Find her on LinkedIn at Amy-Diehl , Twitter @amydiehl , and visit her website at amy-diehl.com
• AS Amber L. Stephenson , PhD is an associate professor of management and director of healthcare management programs in the David D. Reh School of Business at Clarkson University. Her research focuses on the healthcare workforce, how professional identity influences attitudes and behaviors, and how women leaders experience gender bias.
• LD Leanne M. Dzubinski , PhD is acting dean of the Cook School of Intercultural Studies and associate professor of intercultural education at Biola University, and a prominent researcher on women in leadership. She is coauthor of Glass Walls: Shattering the Six Gender Bias Barriers Still Holding Women Back at Work (Rowman & Littlefield).

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Digital Commons @ USF > College of Arts and Sciences > Women's and Gender Studies > Theses and Dissertations

Women's and Gender Studies Theses and Dissertations

Theses/dissertations from 2023 2023.

Social Media and Women Empowerment in Nigeria: A Study of the #BreakTheBias Campaign on Facebook , Deborah Osaro Omontese

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

Going Flat: Challenging Gender, Stigma, and Cure through Lesbian Breast Cancer Experience , Beth Gaines

Incorrect Athlete, Incorrect Woman: IOC Gender Regulations and the Boundaries of Womanhood in Professional Sports , Sabeehah Ravat

Transnational Perspectives on the #MeToo and Anti-Base Movements in Japan , Alisha Romano

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

Criminalizing LGBTQ+ Jamaicans: Social, Legal, and Colonial Influences on Homophobic Policy , Zoe C. Knowles

Dismantling Hegemony through Inclusive Sexual Health Education , Lauren Wright

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

Transfat Representation , Jessica "Fyn" Asay

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

Ain't I a Woman, Too? Depictions of Toxic Femininity, Transmisogynoir, and Violence on STAR , Sunahtah D. Jones

“The Most Muscular Woman I Have Ever Seen”: Bev FrancisPerformance of Gender in Pumping Iron II: The Women , Cera R. Shain

"Roll" Models: Fat Sexuality and Its Representations in Pornographic Imagery , Leah Marie Turner

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

Reproducing Intersex Trouble: An Analysis of the M.C. Case in the Media , Jamie M. Lane

Race and Gender in (Re)integration of Victim-Survivors of CSEC in a Community Advocacy Context , Joshlyn Lawhorn

Penalizing Pregnancy: A Feminist Legal Studies Analysis of Purvi Patel's Criminalization , Abby Schneller

A Queer and Crip Grotesque: Katherine Dunn's , Megan Wiedeman

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

"Mothers like Us Think Differently": Mothers' Negotiations of Virginity in Contemporary Turkey , Asli Aygunes

Surveilling Hate/Obscuring Racism?: Hate Group Surveillance and the Southern Poverty Law Center's "Hate Map" , Mary McKelvie

“Ya I have a disability, but that’s only one part of me”: Formative Experiences of Young Women with Physical Disabilities , Victoria Peer

Resistance from Within: Domestic violence and rape crisis centers that serve Black/African American populations , Jessica Marie Pinto

(Dis)Enchanted: (Re)constructing Love and Creating Community in the , Shannon A. Suddeth

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

"The Afro that Ate Kentucky": Appalachian Racial Formation, Lived Experience, and Intersectional Feminist Interventions , Sandra Louise Carpenter

“Even Five Years Ago this Would Have Been Impossible:” Health Care Providers’ Perspectives on Trans* Health Care , Richard S. Henry

Tough Guy, Sensitive Vas: Analyzing Masculinity, Male Contraceptives & the Sexual Division of Labor , Kaeleen Kosmo

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

Let’s Move! Biocitizens and the Fat Kids on the Block , Mary Catherine Dickman

Interpretations of Educational Experiences of Women in Chitral, Pakistan , Rakshinda Shah

Theses/Dissertations from 2014 2014

Incredi-bull-ly Inclusive?: Assessing the Climate on a College Campus , Aubrey Lynne Hall

Her-Storicizing Baldness: Situating Women's Experiences with Baldness from Skin and Hair Disorders , Kasie Holmes

In the (Radical) Pursuit of Self-Care: Feminist Participatory Action Research with Victim Advocates , Robyn L. Homer

Theses/Dissertations from 2013 2013

Significance is Bliss: A Global Feminist Analysis of the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission and its Privileging of Americo-Liberian over Indigenous Liberian Women's Voices , Morgan Lea Eubank

Monsters Under the Bed: An Analysis of Torture Scenes in Three Pixar Films , Heidi Tilney Kramer

Theses/Dissertations from 2012 2012

Can You Believe She Did THAT?!:Breaking the Codes of "Good" Mothering in 1970s Horror Films , Jessica Michelle Collard

Don't Blame It on My Ovaries: Exploring the Lived Experience of Women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and the Creation of Discourse , Jennifer Lynn Ellerman

Valanced Voices: Student Experiences with Learning Disabilities & Differences , Zoe DuPree Fine

An Interactive Guide to Self-Discovery for Women , Elaine J. Taylor

Selling the Third Wave: The Commodification and Consumption of the Flat Track Roller Girl , Mary Catherine Whitlock

Theses/Dissertations from 2010 2010

Beyond Survival: An Exploration of Narrative Healing and Forgiveness in Healing from Rape , Heather Curry

Theses/Dissertations from 2009 2009

Gender Trouble In Northern Ireland: An Examination Of Gender And Bodies Within The 1970s And 1980s Provisional Irish Republican Army In Northern Ireland , Jennifer Earles

"You're going to Hollywood"!: Gender and race surveillance and accountability in American Idol contestant's performances , Amanda LeBlanc

From the academy to the streets: Documenting the healing power of black feminist creative expression , Tunisia L. Riley

Developing Feminist Activist Pedagogy: A Case Study Approach in the Women's Studies Department at the University of South Florida , Stacy Tessier

Women in Wargasm: The Politics of Womenís Liberation in the Weather Underground Organization , Cyrana B. Wyker

Theses/Dissertations from 2008 2008

Opportunities for Spiritual Awakening and Growth in Mothering , Melissa J. Albee

A Constant Struggle: Renegotiating Identity in the Aftermath of Rape , Jo Aine Clarke

I am Warrior Woman, Hear Me Roar: The Challenge and Reproduction of Heteronormativity in Speculative Television Programs , Leisa Anne Clark

Theses/Dissertations from 2007 2007

Reforming Dance Pedagogy: A Feminist Perspective on the Art of Performance and Dance Education , Jennifer Clement

Narratives of lesbian transformation: Coming out stories of women who transition from heterosexual marriage to lesbian identity , Clare F. Walsh

The Conundrum of Women’s Studies as Institutional: New Niches, Undergraduate Concerns, and the Move Towards Contemporary Feminist Theory and Action , Rebecca K. Willman

Theses/Dissertations from 2006 2006

A Feminist Perspective on the Precautionary Principle and the Problem of Endocrine Disruptors under Neoliberal Globalization Policies , Erica Hesch Anstey

Asymptotes and metaphors: Teaching feminist theory , Michael Eugene Gipson

Postcolonial Herstory: The Novels of Assia Djebar (Algeria) and Oksana Zabuzhko (Ukraine): A Comparative Analysis , Oksana Lutsyshyna

Theses/Dissertations from 2005 2005

Loving Loving? Problematizing Pedagogies of Care and Chéla Sandoval’s Love as a Hermeneutic , Allison Brimmer

Exploring Women’s Complex Relationship with Political Violence: A Study of the Weathermen, Radical Feminism and the New Left , Lindsey Blake Churchill

The Voices of Sex Workers (prostitutes?) and the Dilemma of Feminist Discourse , Justine L. Kessler

Reconstructing Women's Identities: The Phenomenon Of Cosmetic Surgery In The United States , Cara L. Okopny

Fantastic Visions: On the Necessity of Feminist Utopian Narrative , Tracie Anne Welser

Theses/Dissertations from 2004 2004

The Politics of Being an Egg “Donor” and Shifting Notions of Reproductive Freedom , Elizabeth A. Dedrick

Women, Domestic Abuse, And Dreams: Analyzing Dreams To Uncover Hidden Traumas And Unacknowledged Strengths , Mindy Stokes

Theses/Dissertations from 2001 2001

Safe at Home: Agoraphobia and the Discourse on Women’s Place , Suzie Siegel

Theses/Dissertations from 2000 2000

Women, Environment and Development: Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America , Evaline Tiondi

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Combating Gender Discrimination in the Workplace

Gender discrimination: how companies can prevent it and what employees can do if it happens.

Awareness against gender discrimination

Our mission at Project WHEN (Workplace Harassment Ends Now) is to elevate awareness to eliminate harassment and create more respectful workplaces. This post on gender discrimination is part of our series of pages educating the public about various types of workplace harassment , how employers can prevent it, and employees’ rights under the law.

What is sex or gender discrimination in the workplace?

Gender discrimination (often called sex discrimination in legal settings) occurs when an applicant or employee is treated unfairly because of the person’s sex. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), sexual orientation and gender identity (e.g. transgender status) can also be the basis of sex discrimination. 

Sex discrimination versus sexual harassment

Since sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination under the law, there may be a fine line between the former and the latter, but these two terms have key distinctions. Knowing these differences is essential for any employer looking to avoid the occurrence of this problem or for individuals (employees or applicants) who want to know how to deal with it. 

Sex discrimination happens when an individual receives less favorable treatment for being male or female. For example, an employer with a pattern of laying off only female employees is discriminating against those individuals due to their gender. 

Sexual harassment, on the other hand, involves a variety of acts that are of sexual nature or offensive behavior that creates a hostile working environment to a person of a specific gender. Sexual harassment can generally take two forms: 

1) any unwelcome conduct of sexual nature such as sexual advances; inappropriate requests for sexual favors; unwanted verbal or physical abuse; and quid pro quo, the act of offering employment benefits or conditions in exchange for sexual acts; and/or

2) conduct that is not of sexual nature but causes the victim to suffer hostile working conditions such as repeatedly subjecting an individual to gendered insults or gender-related slurs. Frequently calling a female employee a “slut” or a “bitch” is an example of this conduct.

In this post, we’ll touch on real examples of gender discrimination in the workplace, the laws offering protection from it, and the recourse victims have under the law. Importantly, we’ll also cover what employers can do to prevent it from occurring in the workplace, along with delving into what companies should do to address gender discrimination claims. You’ll also find a number of resources we believe are helpful for those dealing with this problem.

Examples of gender discrimination

One example is shown in a lawsuit against a leading national food distributor that practiced a systematic refusal to hire female job applicants . The pattern of denying women operative positions at the company’s Broadline facilities had been going on since 2004. In addition to this conduct, it was also revealed that the company refused to promote a female employee due to her sex, even if she was qualified. 

To settle the lawsuit, the company will provide monetary relief to the victims who suffered sex discrimination in employment. The female applicants will receive $5,000,000 while $75,000 will be paid to the female employee that the employer failed to promote.

Transgender individuals are also protected under the law. Another case involved a transgender employee who was dismissed from her position as a funeral director . The decision to fire her came after the employee told her employers that she will be undergoing a transition from male to female. 

The court concluded that firing the employee based on her transgender status is a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act that prohibits discrimination based on sex. To resolve the lawsuit, the transgender employee will receive $130,000 in back pay and compensatory damages. The company will also pay the victim’s attorney fees amounting to $120,000.

These examples are based on real gender discrimination lawsuits filed by the EEOC, a federal agency responsible for enforcing employment discrimination laws.

Statistics on gender discrimination

According to data visualizations of charges received by the EEOC , sex-based discrimination is one of the most reported basis of discrimination. In fiscal year 2019, the federal agency recorded 23,532 charge receipts while monetary benefits received by aggrieved individuals soared to a whopping $170.7M. This is a 32% increase since 2010.

It is evident that gender discrimination in the workplace is still a rampant and pervasive issue that needs to be addressed. Employers may think that their actions do not have serious consequences and victims may not have a clear understanding of protections available to them. Awareness is of utmost importance, first and foremost, in these situations. Read on to explore what laws protect you from it, as well as key actions to take by both companies and victims in dealing with this type of discrimination.

Gender discrimination laws

Federal law.

The EEOC enforces several laws that make it unlawful for employers to discriminate against an individual because of sex or gender.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 

Although discrimination is often experienced by women, the law’s protection also applies to men. Furthermore, as enforced by the EEOC and as ruled in certain court decisions, discriminating individuals because of their gender identity or sexual orientation is also a form of discrimination based on sex under Title VII. 

Harassing someone because of that person’s sex is also illegal under the law. It is important to note, however, that one-off teasing and isolated incidents (unless extremely serious) may not be considered illegal. The offensive behavior must create a threatening and hostile work environment or result in adverse employment action to be unlawful.

The harasser does not have to be of opposite sex for sexual harassment to happen; it can occur between individuals of the same sex. The victim’s harasser can also be a supervisor, manager, leader, employer’s agent, co-worker and even those external to the company such as vendors and customers.

When it comes to employment practices, a seemingly neutral policy or practice that negatively affects employees of a particular sex may be considered unlawful, especially if it is not essential for business operations.

Another main provision this law offers is protection against retaliation. An employer may not punish or retaliate against an individual who is actively asserting his/her rights. Protected activities include filing a discrimination charge, using complaint processes to oppose discriminatory practices, and participating in legal proceedings or investigations alleging workplace harassment.

Title VII applies to business/private employers with 15 or more employees, employment agencies, state or local governments, federal government agencies, and labor organizations or joint apprenticeship committees.

Below is an excerpt from Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 pertaining to sex discrimination.

Equal Pay Act of 1963

The Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA), an amendment to Fair Labor Standards Act, is another federal law that covers sex-based discrimination. This law was passed to ensure that male and female employees performing substantially similar work are paid equally. 

Virtually all employers and all types of compensation paid to an employee are covered. This includes salary, overtime pay, bonuses, vacation/holiday pay, gas/cleaning allowances, insurance, travel expense reimbursement, and benefits. Our page on compensation discrimination provides further information about this Act.

Some states have laws that protect individuals from gender discrimination. The best way to learn more about additional protections you can receive locally is to refer to your state’s department of labor website. Our guide on reporting incidents of workplace harassment links to each state’s DOL website, as well as some of the regional and city organizations, for those in more populous areas.

Recourse for victims of gender discrimination

If an applicant or employee believes that they are suffering gender discrimination in the workplace or sexual harassment, documenting experiences or keeping evidence of the offensive conduct is essential. It is also encouraged to use any complaint or reporting system internally. Even concerned colleagues or witnesses can report the incident. But if the complaint has fallen on deaf ears or has led to worse treatment (even punishment), victims have the right to seek legal recourse. 

One of the available options is to consult legal counsel or an employment lawyer. These professionals can help the aggrieved individual in evaluating the case and offer valuable advice regarding the claims.

A best next step could also be filing a charge either through a state administrative agency or the EEOC, a federal agency that enforces federal laws related to harassment and discrimination in the workplace. Acting promptly is important since there is a time limit of 180 days to file an EEOC charge. Federal applicants and employees have 45 days to initiate EEO counseling.

Speaking with an attorney is not a requirement before approaching a government agency to discuss the situation; these entities are in place to protect applicants’ / employees’ rights and are typically willing to give guidance on suggested next steps for victims.

For more information about the process of reporting sex discrimination cases, refer to our full guide on How to Report Workplace Harassment Incidents . This article provides a comprehensive list of state resources and local EEOC offices. You can also head directly to the EEOC’s page on How to File a Charge of Employment Discrimination .

What can companies do to prevent gender discrimination?

The initiative to prevent sex discrimination is most effective when it starts with senior leadership, but sometimes change takes one individual who has the courage to speak up. Employers that are passionate about ensuring the safety of employees from the different manifestations of discrimination should consider getting involved with Project WHEN (Workplace Harassment Ends Now). 

As a first step, we’d ask employers to sign our Pledge of Commitment to demonstrate their commitment to creating a respectful, harassment-free workplace for employees.

For a holistic and structured approach to living out the company’s commitment, we also encourage employers to enroll in the WHEN™ Organizational Certification program. In this program, we will guide the company through a step-by-step process of preventing all types of workplace harassment. This certification will also serve as a powerful statement to both internal and external audiences about the company’s commitment to ensuring that the workplace is a safe space for everyone. The Employee Culture Pulse Survey , which is also offered as a standalone service, will be administered to employees in the first phase of this program. The actionable data gained from this survey will allow you to identify challenges in your fight against workplace harassment and strategize your path to improvement.

What should companies do when gender discrimination happens?

Acts of discrimination happen when companies lack understanding of requirements set forth by the law and do not implement preventive measures. When tell-tale signs of hostility are observed within the organization, it is time to start dismantling it by engaging in meaningful conversations and breaking the status quo. 

If you are ready to begin discussions on creating a more respectful work environment, we can facilitate a Project WHEN Roundtable . This event can help attendees identify challenges present in their current working conditions and gain insight on the best action steps to eliminate traces of discrimination in the workplace.

If you are an individual who thinks that it is time to see change happening in your company, let your employer know about this and ask for a facilitated discussion to take place.

Remember, the problem of gender discrimination will not solve itself. It is important for everyone to develop heightened awareness of what they can do to make a difference. Change will only take place if people within the workplace take the initiative to address issues, no matter how uncomfortable it may be.

Additional resources and recommended readings

For more information about gender discrimination in the workplace, we’ve rounded up some resources that you can consult and find below.

• Sex-based Discrimination | U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
• Sex Discrimination – Your Rights | U.S. EEOC
• Sex Discrimination – FAQs
• What You Should Know: The EEOC and Protections for LGBT Workers

End gender discrimination now

Nobody should have to face gender discrimination or any form of harassment, for that matter. Project WHEN is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization working hard to make workplaces more respectful for everyone. Elevating awareness to prevent workplace harassment from taking place is what runs at the core of our organization.

Whether you’d like to make a financial contribution to support our work, sign the Project WHEN Pledge of Commitment , have your employer host a Project WHEN event , or just join our mailing list to learn of volunteer opportunities, everyone can get involved with Project WHEN!

Examples of Gender Discrimination in Various Industries

Gender Discrimination is a prevalent issue that happens in different workplace settings. Here are some examples of the racial discrimination issues the workplace is currently facing:

Gender Discrimination at Towson University – 2/23/2022

A female gymnastics coach at Towson University in Maryland has filed a lawsuit alleging that she was fired because of her gender, while pregnant, and after complaining about being treated differently than male coaches. During the investigations, the coach complained that male coaches were treated better when more serious complaints were filed against them. The case is still in its early stages, and the University is attempting to have it dismissed.

Gender Discrimination at Fox News – 02/17/2022

Melissa Francis’ gender discrimination and retaliation accusations have been investigated by the New York State Department of Labor. Francis left the Fox News due to a wage dispute. Fox News representative declined to comment on the investigation. New York’s labor department is investigating Fox News. The news comes only months after the network reached a settlement with the New York City Human Rights Commission.

Gender Discrimination at Aims Community College – 1/24/2022

The Greeley-based Aims Community College has been named in three lawsuits alleging gender discrimination or sexual harassment. Patricia Rand, former associate vice president of academic affairs, filed a lawsuit in Weld County District Court. She claimed that she was forced to resign after 16 years at the college due to “constant gender discrimination and a hostile work environment.” A lawsuit similar to Rand’s was filed by Sarah Wyscaver, vice president of student engagement, inclusion, and success. She claimed gender discrimination and lower pay than men doing comparable work. Aims vehemently denies Wyscaver and Rand’s allegations.

Gender Discrimination at Arizona State University 1/22/2022

Former Arizona State University women’s lacrosse coach Courtney Connor is suing the university and the Arizona Board of Regents with claims of unlawful termination as a result of her reports of Title IX violations against the sports department. According to Connor’s lawsuit, her supervisors, including former ASU assistant athletics director Scottie Graham, expressed outrage about her reports of gender inequity inside the athletics department. Connor asserts that the athletic department subsequently created a hostile work environment for her and exacerbated gender inequities.

Gender Discrimination at Riot Games – 12/28/2021

Riot Games agreed to pay $100 million to settle a lawsuit alleging gender discrimination. In 2018, two now-former workers filed a complaint alleging gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and misconduct. It will pay $80 million to class-action suit plaintiffs from 2018, including hundreds of present and former California employees. Another $20 million will go toward the plaintiffs’ legal bills. The arrangement is still subject to final court approval, with a hearing scheduled in the coming months.

Gender Discrimination at King Studio LLC – 12/14/2021

YouTuber and TikTok star Zach King is being sued by a former producer who is accusing him of sexual harassment, wrongful termination, gender discrimination, among several other counts, according to a civil complaint filed by Elisabeth Logan in Los Angeles County’s Court. Logan claims that King created “an abusive work atmosphere” by stripping naked in her office and paying her less than male colleagues. A court summons states that King, his company, and even TikTok have 30 days to respond to accusations made by Logan. However, King has not publicly addressed the lawsuit.

Misogyny and Gender Discrimination at Amazon Web Services – 11/16/2021

Lawsuits filed against Amazon Web Services show a sexist, racist, and homophobic workplace environment. AWS employees signed an internal petition calling for an independent probe of the company. In response, AWS CEO Adam Selipsky affirmed to the petition’s authors that the company will conduct an investigation using outside counsel.

Gender Discrimination and Misogyny in Las Vegas Raiders – 10/28/2021

John Gruden, the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, resigned after The New York Times published an exposé detailing his homophobic and misogynistic tendencies in email correspondence. NFL official investigation found that Gruden had casually and frequently used sexist and homophobic language to disparage people surrounding the game and belittle some of the league’s historic developments.

Misogyny Against Phoenix Suns Owner – 10/22/2021

According to an ESPN-published report, Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver has been accused of sexual harassment, misogyny, and racism. Sarver denied or disputed most of the allegations through his legal team. The NBA announced that it will launch a thorough inquiry on the allegations.

Gender Discrimination By Paul Riley – 10/1/2021

North Carolina Courage fired its technical commander coach Paul Riley. The coach has been accused of sexual harassment and making insulting remarks about his players’ sexual orientation and weight for more than a decade.

Gender Discrimination at Blue Origin – 9/30/2021

Ally Abrams, former head of employee communications at Blue Origin, continues to battle the call for Jeff Bezos and his company to address its toxic and sexist work environment. Abrams, along with 21 others who are mostly former employees of the commercial spaceflight company, describes in an open letter the alleged toxic work culture of the company. Blue Origin has not responded to the specifics of the allegations and has released a statement that the company “has no tolerance for discrimination or harassment of any kind.”

Sexist Social Media Posts by Oakland Police Officers – 9/20/2021

An investigation by Oakland Police Department found that several police officers are guilty of posting racist memes and jokes about rape and police brutality on social media. 140 Oakland Police Department phones were confiscated and nine officers were placed on an unpaid suspension following the investigation.

Gender Discrimination at Liberty Warehouse – 9/17/2021

According to an EEOC lawsuit, the head chef of Liberty Warehouse sexually harassed a female kitchen staff and subjected her to sex discrimination that included unwanted touching, sexual comments, throwing objects at the women and belittling them based on their sex in front of coworkers. To settle the lawsuit, the restaurant group agreed to pay $125,000.

Bossie’s Harassing Behavior Towards Lil Nas X – 9/4/2021

Lil Nas X, an openly queer musician, has become controversial for expressing his queerness via his art. This report details how rapper Bossie Badazz, has repeatedly attacked Lil Nas X to the point of harassment by attacking the young musician’s homosexuality.

Gender Discrimination at Los Angeles Police Department – 8/27/2021

After complaining about sexual and gender harassment he witnessed, a bisexual LAPD officer claims that he faced backlash for reporting the incidents and was further mistreated due to his sexual orientation. In a lawsuit filed against the city, the plaintiff details his experiences of being retaliated against and harassed because of his bisexuality.

Gender Discrimination at Ukiah Police Department – 8/26/2021

A former Ukiah police officer claims that a UPD sergeant sexually assaulted her during a training program. She reported the incident to a superior but received no appropriate actions. The Ukiah Police Department, accused sergeant, and the city are now facing a lawsuit alleging harassment, discrimination, and retaliation.

Gender Discrimination by Mike Richards – 8/6/2021

In the past, ‘Jeopardy!’ executive producer Mike Richards was involved in sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuits filed by two former models at ‘The Price is Right.’ As a frontrunner in the consideration of a show’s new host, Richards is under fire for his past actions.

Gender Discrimination at Central Kitsap Fire and Rescue – 8/3/2021

Since beginning her employment with the Central Kitsap Fire and Rescue, a female employee has faced a series of harassing and discriminatory behavior on the basis of her gender in the workplace. After failing to have the issue resolved internally, the victim has decided to take the case to court.

Gender Discrimination at Amazon – 7/23/2021

Amazon has opened an investigation into allegations regarding the culture of its cloud-computing unit after an internal petition from more than 550 employees criticized it as having “an underlying culture of systemic discrimination, harassment, bullying and bias against women and under-represented groups.”

Gender Discrimination at Activision Blizzard – 7/22/2021

California sues Activision Blizzard following a two-year investigation that found out female employees of the video game company have been discriminated against in terms of compensation, promotion, and termination, while constantly being subjected to rape jokes, inappropriate behavior from male employees, and retaliation, among other different forms of harassment.

Misogyny within CBS’ Stations Group – 7/22/2021

Misconduct, racism, and misogyny allegedly reigned at a handful of CBS-owned stations, according to a Los Angeles Times investigation. After this report, CBS fired two senior managers in its Los Angeles and Chicago stations. CBS did not reveal the reasons behind the managers’ departures but it signified a dramatic management makeover in the network’s stations.

Sex Discrimination at Maine Department of Corrections – 7/14/2021

The Maine Department of Corrections is facing a civil lawsuit filed by Autumn Dinsmore, a correctional officer. Dinsmore alleges that she was subjected to sex and sexual orientation discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, along with other correctional officers. The department has refused to comment as the case is ongoing.

Gender Discrimination at Netflix – 7/14/2021

Netflix is facing a lawsuit alleging gender and race discrimination in the workplace. The suit has been filed by a former director in the streamer’s business and legal affairs department, claiming that she and several other women of Indian origin were subjected to systemic discrimination. Netflix has released a statement firmly denying the allegations.

Gender Discrimination at New Bedford Police Department – 7/13/2021

New Bedford and its high-ranking police officers are facing another lawsuit filed by another officer alleging retaliation and discrimination based on sexual orientation. Plaintiff Bryan Oliveira claims that a detective made derogatory slurs at him while his superiors did not address the incidents and even reprimanded him for standing up for himself.

Gender Discrimination at Macalester College – 7/12/2021

Ian Olson, a former Macalester College student has filed a lawsuit against the college alleging that he was discriminated against on the basis of sex and disability. The university reportedly expelled him after siding with Olson’s girlfriend who filed a complaint against him. Olson claims that his girlfriend beat him to file a Title IX complaint and said that the college’s procedures prevented him from fairly defending himself against her allegations.

Gender Discrimination Lawsuit Against Kris Jenner – 7/3/2021

Marc McWilliams, Kris Jenner’s security guard, has accused Jenner of groping him and making racist and homophobic remarks while he was working for her. He has now officially informed the court that he will be pushing through with a lawsuit against the “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” star. Kris is now required to respond to the claims in court.

Sexism at Lord Hobo and Wormtown Brewery – 6/30/2021

After Brienne Allan encouraged women to speak out about sexism and harassment occurring in their workplace, multiple allegations have rained down on many breweries nationwide. This resulted in several leaders and brewery owners issuing apologies and stepping down from their positions including leaders at Lord Hobo and Wormtown. The craft brewing industry is faced with the responsibility to quash existing systemic problems and lead major changes to prevent further incidents of harassment.

Sexism at Colony Diner – 6/24/2021

After an investigation by the labor rights agency, the EEOC has filed a lawsuit against Colony Diner alleging sexual harassment and discrimination. The diner’s owners and operators allegedly conducted unlawful employment practices and subjected female employees to a “hostile work environment based on sex.”

Sex Discrimination at Michigan Department of Corrections – 6/23/2021

Michigan prison officer Bridget Cadena has filed a lawsuit against the Michigan Department of Corrections alleging that she was harassed because of her sexual orientation which eventually became the reason that she was forced to quit her job. The suit is slated to go to trial in January but was postponed due to the pandemic.

Sexism at O’Connor Brewing Co. – 6/19/2021

Several former employees of O’Connor Brewing Co. took to social media to share stories of sexual harassment, sexism, and racism that they experienced at the brewery. The allegations also state that O’Connor leaders have been made aware of such issues but they either did nothing or responded with acts of retaliation. Due to these accusations, the brewery announced that a third-party investigation will be conducted and “redouble their efforts to ensure fair treatment to employees.

Gender Discrimination at Pacific University – 6/2/2021

Pacific University placed education professor Richard Paxton on leave to investigate complaints claiming that he made offensive comments during class about gender, gender identity, and other protected characteristics. The professor called the investigation “indefinite, unfounded, and unfair” and filed a lawsuit against the university. University officials denied such allegations and said that the investigation will be pursued and will be completed soon.

Gender Discrimination at Sony Electronics Inc. – 5/30/2021

Jennifer Pochue sued Sony Electronics in 2020 and her lawsuit allegations included sexual harassment and discrimination, retaliation, and wrongful termination. However, early this year, Pochue dropped her lawsuit against Sony Electronics Inc. The report did not say whether a settlement was made or whether Pochue decided not to pursue the action for other reasons.

Gender Discrimination at The College of New Jersey – 5/30/2021

In 2019, a professor anonymously filed a federal lawsuit against the college alleging discrimination based on her pregnancies, gender, and nationality. However, the case has undergone delays while her decision to stay anonymous is being argued in court. This report discusses the issue of anonymity in filing lawsuits and how the professor’s case will proceed.

La Puente Councilwoman Sues City Manager and Mayor for Gender Discrimination – 5/29/2021

Violeta Lewis, a councilwoman in La Puente, filed a lawsuit against Mayor Charlie Klinakis and City Manager Robert Lindsey in Los Angeles County Superior Court. According to the suit, Lindsey sexually harassed Lewis while Klinakis covered up for the city manager and subjected the councilwoman to a hostile work environment. Aside from sexual harassment, other charges filed include discrimination and harassment based on gender and race; retaliation; aiding and abetting; assault; and failure to investigate, prevent and correct violations of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act.

Sex Discrimination in the Supreme Court – 5/21/2021

The Colorado Judicial Department sought bids for a $350,000 contract for workplace harassment inquiry an investigation into allegations that a $2.5 million five-year contract given to former Supreme Court Administrator’s Office Chief of Staff Mindy Masias was in return for silencing a tell-all sexual discrimination lawsuit she planned to bring. Several local law firms have shown interest in the investigation.

Gender Discrimination at Microsoft – 5/19/2021

Internal Microsoft complaints reveal how women who worked there were “ignored, harassed, and degraded.” According to the class-action complaint filed by previous employees, the company discriminated against women in terms of compensation and promotions. In response, Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, said that the business will reform its process for dealing with employee complaints of harassment and discrimination in the workplace.

Sex Discrimination at Twin Peaks – 8/7/2020

A federal lawsuit alleging sex discrimination and harassment was filed against Twin Peaks, a restaurant chain. Thirty-four former employees came forward to share that the restaurant implemented inappropriate uniforms and a system for grading female servers’ bodies which resulted in a work environment where customers are allowed to harass servers.

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Artificial Intelligence and gender equality

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The world has a gender equality problem, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) mirrors the gender bias in our society.

Although globally more women are accessing the internet every year , in low-income countries, only 20 per cent are connected . The gender digital divide creates a data gap that is reflected in the gender bias in AI. 

Who creates AI and what biases are built into AI data (or not), can perpetuate, widen, or reduce gender equality gaps.

What is AI gender bias? 

A study by the Berkeley Haas Center for Equity, Gender and Leadership analysed 133 AI systems across different industries and found that about 44 per cent of them showed gender bias , and 25 per cent exhibited both gender and racial bias.

Beyza Doğuç, an artist from Ankara, Turkey, encountered gender bias in Generative AI when she was researching for a novel and prompted it to write a story about a doctor and a nurse. Generative AI creates new content (text, images, video, etc.) inspired by similar content and data that it was trained on, often in response to questions or prompts by a user.

The AI made the doctor male and the nurse female. Doğuç continued to give it more prompts, and the AI always chose gender stereotypical roles for the characters and associated certain qualities and skills with male or female characters. When she asked the AI about the gender bias it exhibited, the AI explained it was because of the data it had been trained on and specifically, “word embedding” – which means the way certain words are encoded in machine learning to reflect their meaning and association with other words – it’s how machines learn and work with human language. If the AI is trained on data that associates women and men with different and specific skills or interests, it will generate content reflecting that bias.

“Artificial intelligence mirrors the biases that are present in our society and that manifest in AI training data,” said Doğuç, in a recent interview with UN Women.

Who develops AI, and what kind of data it is trained on, has gender implications for AI-powered solutions.

Sola Mahfouz, a quantum computing researcher at Tufts University, is excited about AI, but also concerned. “Is it equitable? How much does it mirror our society’s patriarchal structures and inherent biases from its predominantly male creators,” she reflected. 

Mahfouz was born in Afghanistan, where she was forced to leave school when the Taliban came to her home and threatened her family. She eventually escaped Afghanistan and immigrated to the U.S. in 2016 to attend college.

As companies are scrambling for more data to feed AI systems, researchers from Epoch claim that tech companies could run out of high-quality data used by AI by 2026 .

Natacha Sangwa is a student from Rwanda who participated in the first coding camp organized under the African Girls Can Code Initiative last year. “I have noticed that [AI] is mostly developed by men and trained on datasets that are primarily based on men,” said Sangwa, who saw first-hand how that impacts women’s experience with the technology. “When women use some AI-powered systems to diagnose illnesses, they often receive inaccurate answers, because the AI is not aware of symptoms that may present differently in women.” 

If current trends continue, AI-powered technology and services will continue lacking diverse gender and racial perspectives, and that gap will result in lower quality of services, biased decisions about jobs, credit, health care and more. 

How to avoid gender bias in AI?

Removing gender bias in AI starts with prioritizing gender equality as a goal, as AI systems are conceptualized and built. This includes assessing data for misrepresentation, providing data that is representative of diverse gender and racial experiences, and reshaping the teams developing AI to make them more diverse and inclusive.

According to the Global Gender Gap Report of 2023, there are only 30 per cent women currently working in AI .  

“When technology is developed with just one perspective, it’s like looking at the world half-blind,” concurred Mahfouz. She is currently working on a project to create an AI-powered platform that would connect Afghan women with each other. 

“More women researchers are needed in the field. The unique lived experiences of women can profoundly shape the theoretical foundations of technology. It can also open new applications of the technology,” she added. 

“To prevent gender bias in AI, we must first address gender bias in our society,” said Doğuç from Turkey.

There is a critical need for drawing upon diverse fields of expertise when developing AI, including gender expertise, so that machine learning systems can serve us better and support the drive for a more equal and sustainable world.

In a rapidly advancing AI industry, the lack of gender perspectives, data, and decision-making can perpetuate profound inequality for years to come.

The AI field needs more women, and that requires enabling and increasing girls’ and women’s access to and leadership in STEM and ICT education and careers.

The World Economic Forum reported in 2023 that women accounted for just 29 per cent of all science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) workers. Although more women are graduating and entering STEM jobs today than ever before, they are concentrated in entry level jobs and less likely to hold leadership positions.

How can AI governance help accelerate progress towards gender equality?

International cooperation on digital technology has focused on technical and infrastructural issues and the digital economy, often at the expense of how technological developments were affecting society and generating disruption across all its layers – especially for the most vulnerable and historically excluded. There is a global governance deficit in addressing the challenges and risks of AI and harnessing its potential to leave no one behind.

“Right now, there is no mechanism to constrain developers from releasing AI systems before they are ready and safe. There’s a need for a global multistakeholder governance model that prevents and redresses when AI systems exhibit gender or racial bias, reinforce harmful stereotypes, or does not meet privacy and security standards,” said Helene Molinier, UN Women’s Advisor on Digital Gender Equality Cooperation in a recent interview with Devex.

In the current AI architecture, benefits and risks are not equitably distributed, with power concentrated in the hands of a few corporations, States and individuals, who control talent, data and computer resources. There is also no mechanism to look at broader considerations, like new forms of social vulnerability generated by AI, the disruption of industries and labour markets, the propensity for emerging technology to be used as a tool of oppression, the sustainability of the AI supply chain, or the impact of AI on future generations.

In 2024, the negotiation of the Global Digital Compact (GDC) offers a unique opportunity to build political momentum and place gender perspectives on digital technology at the core of a new digital governance framework. Without it, we face the risk of overlaying AI onto existing gender gaps, causing gender-based discrimination and harm to be left unchanged – and even amplified and perpetuated by AI systems.

UN Women position paper on the GDC provide concrete recommendations to harness the speed, scale, and scope of digital transformation for the empowerment of women and girls in all their diversity, and to trigger transformations that set countries on paths to an equitable digital future for all.

• Science and technology for development
• Innovation and technology

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UN Women statement for the International Girls in ICT Day 2024

UN Women statement for the International Day for Women and Girls in Science

Creating safe digital spaces free of trolls, doxing, and hate speech

Sexual Harassment and Discrimination in the Workplace Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
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The ways in which an organization responds to claims of sexual harassment and pervasive discrimination based on gender are fundamental for repairing a damaged reputation and preventing similar cases from occurring in the future. Due to the high number of court cases that involve companies responding to charges of discrimination and sexual harassment, it is essential to analyze such cases for organizational managers to understand how they can avoid them in the future. In this paper, the case chosen for analysis involves a South-Dakota social services organization serving low-income individuals across the state. As a result of the lawsuit, the organization, Rural Office of Community Services Inc., will pay monetary relief while having to resolve further reputational problems and develop ideas and approaches for supporting diversity and inclusivity.

The case report states that the organization was to pay $320,000 in monetary relief to a class of employees who were affected by sexual harassment and discrimination based on gender. The workers filed a charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), alleging that Rural Office of Community Services Inc. discriminated against them because of their sex, subjecting them to sexual harassment and retaliating against specific workers complaining to terminate them (“South Dakota Social Agency Fined $320K,” 2022). In the lawsuit, the EEOC conducted an investigation into the conduct, finding that the organization’s executive director harassed female employees regardless of the complaints made to the management and the board of directors. Significantly, it was determined that the harassment lasted over several years, violating the provisions of the Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“South Dakota Social Agency Fined $320K,” 2022). The provisions ban discrimination on the basis of sex and retaliation against persons who complain about such conduct. The violation of the law shows the organizations’ disregard for equal rights principles for which Americans have fought.

After researching and reviewing the value statement of Rural Office of Community Services Inc., no mention of diversity and inclusion is present. This presents a reputational problem for the organization because there is a lack of consideration for how the lack of diversity in the workplace benefits the organization. The first strategy that the organization can implement for embedding diversity and inclusion is to implement diversity training in the workplace so that the commitment to the principles is visible through action and not just communicated. This strategy entails showing what diversity and inclusion mean for the organization and how they are promoted in the everyday work context (Heaslip, 2020). The second recommendation that the company should implement is to ensure that the value statement serves a purpose and there are actionable aspects that can be included. For example, the contents may include how many diverse low-income families were served, whether there are diverse individuals in leadership positions, or what inclusion goals the organization pursues for the future.

Prior to implementing any procedures for compliance with the issue related to the lawsuit, it is necessary that the Rural Office of Community Services Inc. follows federal anti-discrimination laws, including the Title VII of the Civil rights Act, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and several others. The first important strategy for the organization is to establish a strongly-worded zero-tolerance policy for gender discrimination and sexual harassment. The policy should be reinforced after consistent employee and manager training has been implemented, with their conduct being subjected to reviews if necessary. The second strategy entails holding managers accountable through reporting requirements summarizing specific efforts to advance gender equality and prevent discrimination based on sex. When clear reporting channels are established, it will become easier to communicate any cases showing a lack of adherence to the zero-tolerance policy.

Within a larger social context, the compliance issue that was revealed in the case concerning the organization illustrates the pervasive impact of patriarchal values on society and workplaces in particular. Women remain discriminated against in the workplace because they are perceived as less qualified or capable, while sexual harassment occurs when perpetrators are certain that their victims can do nothing to protect themselves or make a report (Folke & Rickne, 2022). Until society becomes more inclusive and abandons the stereotypical gender roles, it is likely that women will remain discriminated against and harassed in the workplace, which is an unfavorable prognosis.

To conclude, the case involving the Rural Office of Community Services Inc. and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission points to the importance of practices associated with diversity and inclusion in the workplace in order to prevent sexual harassment and discrimination from occurring in the workplace setting. As the case becomes known to the public, the organization will have to deal with reputational outcomes while also showing that it can adhere to practices regarding the internal investigation of complaints. Besides, the organization will have to engage in employee and manager training, report to the EEOC regularly, as well as embed the principles of diversity and inclusion into its statement of values.

Folke, O., & Rickne, J. (2022). Sexual harassment and gender inequality in the labor market . The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 137 (4), 2163-2212. Web.

Heaslip, E. (2020). Writing a diversity and inclusion statement: How to get it right . Web.

South Dakota social agency fined $320K . (2022). Web.

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• Chicago (A-D)
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IvyPanda. (2024, May 27). Sexual Harassment and Discrimination in the Workplace. https://ivypanda.com/essays/sexual-harassment-and-discrimination-in-the-workplace/

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IvyPanda . (2024) 'Sexual Harassment and Discrimination in the Workplace'. 27 May.

IvyPanda . 2024. "Sexual Harassment and Discrimination in the Workplace." May 27, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/sexual-harassment-and-discrimination-in-the-workplace/.

1. IvyPanda . "Sexual Harassment and Discrimination in the Workplace." May 27, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/sexual-harassment-and-discrimination-in-the-workplace/.

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The Persistent Reality of Institutionalized Discrimination in Modern Society

This essay about institutionalized discrimination examines how systemic biases are deeply embedded in various institutions, perpetuating inequality and social injustice. It discusses how discrimination in the criminal justice system disproportionately affects people of color, leading to higher incarceration rates and harsher sentencing. In education, minority students face disparities in resources and disciplinary practices, resulting in lower academic achievement. The workplace is also highlighted, showing how women and minorities often encounter barriers to advancement and equitable pay. Additionally, healthcare disparities are addressed, illustrating how minority communities receive lower-quality treatment and have less access to care. The essay concludes with the need for policy reforms, cultural shifts, and individual accountability to address and dismantle these systemic barriers.

How it works

In many communities, institutionalized prejudice is still a deeply rooted problem that shapes marginalized people’ prospects and experiences. Inequality and social injustice are sustained by structural prejudices, which persist in many forms despite notable advancements in the civil rights and equality movements. It is necessary to continue monitoring this widespread issue and take proactive steps to undermine the systems that support it.

At its core, institutionalized discrimination refers to policies, practices, and norms within institutions that systematically disadvantage certain groups based on race, gender, sexuality, socioeconomic status, or other characteristics.

These discriminatory practices are often subtle, embedded in the standard operating procedures of organizations, and perpetuated by cultural norms that favor the dominant group. Unlike overt discrimination, which is explicit and identifiable, institutionalized discrimination is insidious, operating beneath the surface and often going unnoticed by those who are not directly affected by it.

One of the most glaring examples of institutionalized discrimination is evident in the criminal justice system. Studies have consistently shown that people of color, particularly Black and Hispanic individuals, are disproportionately targeted by law enforcement, face harsher sentencing, and have higher incarceration rates compared to their white counterparts. This disparity is not solely a result of individual biases but is also a consequence of systemic practices such as racial profiling, mandatory minimum sentencing laws, and the war on drugs, which disproportionately impacts minority communities.

Education is another area where institutionalized discrimination is prevalent. Minority students often attend underfunded schools with fewer resources, less experienced teachers, and inadequate facilities compared to schools in predominantly white, affluent neighborhoods. This educational inequity results in lower academic achievement and reduced opportunities for higher education and employment for students from marginalized backgrounds. Additionally, disciplinary practices in schools often disproportionately affect minority students, contributing to the school-to-prison pipeline, where students are funneled from the educational system into the criminal justice system.

In the workplace, institutionalized discrimination manifests through hiring practices, promotion policies, and workplace culture that favor certain groups over others. Women, for instance, often face a glass ceiling that limits their advancement to top leadership positions, and they are typically paid less than their male counterparts for the same work. Similarly, employees from minority backgrounds may encounter biases that hinder their professional growth, such as being overlooked for promotions or being subjected to microaggressions and a hostile work environment. These systemic barriers contribute to the persistence of income inequality and limit the economic mobility of marginalized groups.

Healthcare disparities also illustrate the pervasive nature of institutionalized discrimination. Minority communities often have less access to quality healthcare, face higher rates of chronic illnesses, and receive lower-quality treatment compared to white patients. These disparities are exacerbated by factors such as socioeconomic status, residential segregation, and implicit biases among healthcare providers. The COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted these inequities, with minority groups experiencing higher infection rates and mortality due to a combination of preexisting health disparities and systemic barriers to adequate healthcare.

Addressing institutionalized discrimination requires a multifaceted approach that includes policy reforms, cultural shifts, and individual accountability. Policies that promote equality and diversity, such as affirmative action and anti-discrimination laws, are crucial in leveling the playing field. However, policy changes alone are insufficient; there must also be a concerted effort to change the underlying cultural norms that perpetuate discrimination. This involves raising awareness, fostering inclusive environments, and encouraging individuals to confront their own biases and advocate for systemic change.

Moreover, institutions must implement measures to ensure accountability and transparency in their operations. This includes conducting regular audits to identify and address discriminatory practices, providing diversity and inclusion training for employees, and establishing mechanisms for reporting and addressing grievances related to discrimination. By creating an environment where equity and inclusion are prioritized, institutions can begin to dismantle the structures that uphold discrimination and move towards a more just and equitable society.

In summary, institutionalized prejudice is a widespread problem that has an impact on a variety of societal domains, including the criminal justice system, the labor market, healthcare, and education. An all-encompassing strategy that incorporates individual acts, cultural changes, and institutional reforms is needed to address this issue. We can only hope to remove the structural obstacles that support inequality and make sure that everyone has the chance to prosper by persistently working toward our goals.

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Nursing Mom Settles Lawsuit With Sun Country Airlines

S T. PAUL, MN — Sun Country Airlines has settled with a nursing mother who accused the Minnesota-based company of violating her rights under state law to pump breast milk and not be harassed and discriminated against at work.

Gender Justice, the group that representative the mother, released the following statement Thursday:

The Parties have resolved the case in a manner that is satisfactory to both parties. The Parties are proud to say that Sun Country has committed to implement nursing mother accommodations beyond those required under federal and state law, including a new lactation space.

Sara Jane Baldwin, senior staff attorney for Gender Justice, said: "In Minnesota, nursing and pumping parents have a legal right to be supported and protected against discrimination on the job, and Minnesota employers have a legal responsibility to protect them and provide the basic accommodations they need."

According to the lawsuit, the airline repeatedly failed to provide Hani Ali an adequate place to pump and store milk to feed her new baby. During this time, one coworker leered at her through a window as she pumped, Ali claims.

She was also harassed over the time she needed for pumping breaks, according to the lawsuit.

The airline also denied her opportunities for desirable work assignments specifically because of her need for pumping breaks, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit also claims that Sun Country violated Ali’s rights to be protected from discrimination and reprisal under the Minnesota Women’s Economic Security Act, and it violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act’s prohibition against sex discrimination in employment and retaliation against employees who assert their rights under the law.

Ali was hired onto Sun Country’s customer service team at the Minneapolis International Airport in September 2021, five months after giving birth to her and her husband’s second child, according to the lawsuit.

The airline knew when it hired her that she would need a place to pump breast milk, Ali claims. But before her first shift, she was told there was no designated nursing room and that she should use the baggage claim office, a high-traffic area with large windows on the walls and doors, the lawsuit states.

Two months later, Ali — a practicing Muslim who needed to remove her hijab during pumping breaks — noticed her male coworker staring at her through one of the windows, the lawsuit claims.

Despite her efforts to wave him away, he continued to look at her while she was exposed and actively pumping, according to Ali. The coworker alerted a male manager, who came and demanded that Ali use a public restroom instead, despite her supervisors’ instructions to use the baggage claim room, the lawsuit states.

The two men subsequently filed a complaint with the company’s human resources department against Ali, who was then told she could no longer enter the baggage claim office for any reason, according to the lawsuit.

According to Ali, she was left without a working refrigerator in which to store her breast milk and the only place to go when she needed to pump was a public nursing area inside the terminal, which she could only access by passing through security.

The process to arduous process added up to 20 minutes of travel time to her pumping breaks and required security checks of her breast pump and the ice-filled thermos she now needed to carry to keep her milk cool enough to be safe for her baby, the lawsuit states.

As a result of the bullying and inaction of Sun Country’s human resources team, Ali resigned in March 2022, the lawsuit states.

Read the full lawsuit here.

The article Nursing Mom Settles Lawsuit With Sun Country Airlines appeared first on Southwest Minneapolis Patch .