What Works for Women at Work

Women face four basic patterns of bias at work.
Joan C. Williams

Many of the hurdles women face at work can be categorized into four patterns of bias. By seeing these patterns, women can stop feeling like their set-backs are purely personal failings, and start using the strategies outlined by Williams. Drawn from interviews with more than a hundred successful women, the strategies presented in these modules are practical tools for women to succeed at work now.

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Key Takeaways

Patterns of Gender Bias
  • Prove It Again: Needing to prove yourself repeatedly.
  • Tightrope: Walking the line between being liked but not  respected or respected but not liked
  • Maternal Wall: Feeling your competence and commitment questioned once you become a mother
  • Tug of War: Tension among women based on different styles of navigating bias in the workplace
Strategies for Overcoming Bias
  • Form a Posse: Team up with people to publicly celebrate successes.
  • Gender Judo: Use a mix of stereotypically masculine and stereotypically feminine traits to be assertive and approachable as needed.
  • Strategic “No”: Say “Yes” to one or two pieces of office housework, then say “No” and provide alternatives for the rest.
  • Ask for Help: Bring others on board to share office housework.
  • Be Explicit: Counter assumptions about mothers by being explicit about your career goals and choices.
  • Make an Enemy into an Ally: If someone is undercutting you, call it out, find common ground and propose mutual support

Additional Information

What Works for Women at Work: Resources

Read more about What Works for Women at Work:

  • For Women Leaders, Likability and Success Hardly Go Hand-in-Hand: In this Harvard Business Review blog post, sociologist Marianne Cooper reviews decades of research explaining the competence/likability trade-off and how women walk a tightrope between between being liked but not respected and respected but not liked.
  • Motherhood penalty remains a pervasive problem in the workplace: Stanford University professor and Stanford VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab Co-Founder Dr. Shelley Correll's research reveals that mothers on the job market are judged by a harsher standard than fathers, childless men and childless women, leading to a "motherhood penalty" in getting hired and being offered a good salary.
  • Women, work and the art of gender judo: In this Washington Post opinion piece, UC Hastings College of the Law professor Joan C. Williams introduces the concept of gender judo, demonstrating how women can mix strong messages of “masculinity” with equally strong messages of “femininity" to advance professionally.
  • What Works for Women at Work: Co-authors UC Hastings College of the Law professor Joan C. Williams and daughter Rachel Dempsey identify, illustrate, and offer practical strategies in their book to overcome four common patterns of gender bias in the workplace: Prove-It-Again, the Tightrope, the Maternal Wall, and Tug of War.

What Works for Women at Work: References

Gender-and race-based standards of competence: lower minimum standards but higher ability standards for devalued groups

Biernat, M., & Kobrynowicz, D. (1997). Gender-and race-based standards of competence: lower minimum standards but higher ability standards for devalued groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72(3), 544.

Can angry women get ahead? Gender, status conferral, and workplace emotion expression

Brescoll, V. L., & Uhlmann, E. L. (2008). Can angry women get ahead? Gender, status conferral, and workplace emotion expression. Psychological Science, 19, 268–275.

Warmth and competence as universal dimensions of social perception: The stereotype content model and the BIAS map

Cuddy, A. J., Fiske, S. T., & Glick, P. (2008). Warmth and competence as universal dimensions of social perception: The stereotype content model and the BIAS map. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 40, 61-149.

Self-promotion as a risk factor for women: The costs and benefits of counterstereotypical impression management

Rudman, L. A. (1998). Self-promotion as a risk factor for women: The costs and benefits of counterstereotypical impression management. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 629-645.

Normative discrimination and the motherhood penalty

Correll, S. J., & Benard S. (2010). Normative discrimination and the motherhood penalty. Gender & Society, 24(5), 616-646.

Do sexist organizational cultures create the Queen Bee?

Derks, B., Ellemers, N., van Laar, C., & de Groot, K. (2011). Do sexist organizational cultures create the Queen Bee?. British Journal of Social Psychology, 50(3), 519-535.

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