Erroneous Assumptions Managers Make About Family Responsibilities - Building Gender Balanced Business

• Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Business Administration found that — surprise! — managers assume that women will have more family-work conflicts than men.

• What is new, though, is that the study proved that the perception exists even when evidence runs to the contrary.

• Both male and female managers assume women’s family commitments will interfere with their ability to handle a promotion, the study of 162 managers and their subordinates at a large company showed.

• Managers also seemed to perceive women as a poorer fit than men in the company, said the study’s leader, Jenny Hoobler.

• Needless to say, this hurts women’s advancement, but now the impediment has been quantified.

• “We found that rather than women’s actual family-work conflict, bosses’ biased perceptions” of it account for why women are given fewer promotions, Hoobler told the Chicago Tribune.

• And the result of such prejudice? Many women find it better to quit the organization and start their own businesses.

The Chicago Tribune article