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Any time you judge someone on a basis other than merit, it diminishes your firm. Most advisors would agree with that statement. They would oppose more obvious forms of discrimination, like overt sexual harassment and hiring and promotion decisions based on gender, race, religion or sexual preference.
While this is encouraging, there’s a more insidious form of discrimination that’s rarely discussed, but equally pernicious. And it’s incredibly difficult to overcome.
A devastating test
As reported in this article in Newsweek, Nicole Lee Hallberg was employed in a small company doing revisions of resumes for clients, primarily in the technology sector. She and her co-worker, Martin R. Schneider, worked together, doing the same work. Interactions with clients took place entirely online.
Hallberg often complained to Schneider about the sexism she experienced from clients and other employees.
As an experiment, she and Schneider decided to use each other’s e-mail signatures to see how clients would react. They told clients they were being transferred to a new editor, but they actually continued to interact with their clients as they had in the past, and just switched each other’s names. They also interacted with new clients using each other’s signature.
Here’s how they reported on this experience:
Hallberg had “a great week.” "People were more receptive, taking me more seriously. They assumed I knew what I was doing. I didn't have to prove it to them." Her clients expressed fewer suggestions and doubts.
Schneider described his experience as “hell” stating, “[E]verything I asked or suggested was questioned. Clients I could do in my sleep were condescending. One asked if I was single."
While this story is anecdotal, the experience of Schneider and Hallberg is supported by more elaborate studies.
In one study of an online course, students rated an instructor with a male identity higher than a female instructor, regardless of the actual gender of the instructor.
Another study found members of a science faculty gave higher ratings to applicants for a position of lab manager to those with male names. The applicants were randomly assigned male and female names.
This form of gender discrimination isn’t overt. It’s unlikely those who made these judgments were even aware of their bias.
That’s why it’s so troubling.
Bad experiences
Sallie Krawcheck, the co-founder and CEO of Ellevest, recounted an experience early in her career with gender discrimination in this moving blog post.
She received a performance review that criticized her for being, “too aggressive, but not assertive enough.”
When she brought this contradiction to her boss and asked for advice about navigating these conflicting concerns, he told her she would need to figure it out herself.
Krawcheck said her experience is representative of a society that expects women, “to be caretakers” and executives “to be performance drivers,” placing women and other minorities in a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t “double bind.”
Deep-seeded roots
There’s little doubt that we prefer people who are “like us” over those who aren’t.
There are many reasons for these feelings. It makes us feel more confident. We have a more positive impression of those with whom we share a common interest. We believe the other person is more likely to like us. We feel these people will be more fun to be around. We may believe we can learn more from them.
These subconscious biases present formidable barriers to women in companies run by men. A women is immediately handicapped by her gender. Any man has at least gender in common with his bosses.
A woman will often be playing catch-up from the get go.
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Practical consequences
There are practical consequences of these studies for both genders.
Men who aspire to be real leaders and make decisions based on merit alone need to recognize these hidden biases and make a special effort to insure they don’t impact their decision process when evaluating employees.
Women need to decide if they are fighting a battle they can’t win. They’re often in a situation where there’s only a downside to complaining about subtle discrimination. If so, they should consider moving to another job where this form of discrimination is less likely to be an issue, or starting their own companies.
Each person has to weigh the risk and rewards of navigating an entrenched system unlikely to change against the risks inherent in pursuing other options. A change might subject them to a higher degree of financial insecurity, but a lower risk of gender (or other) discrimination.
This is neither an easy nor a fair choice.
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Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
