Thinking About Women as Similar to Men: Implications for Perceptions of Masculine Workplace Cultures

Abstract

Thinking of women as very similar or very different than men may affect how we judge masculine work cultures and how much we think women fit in such workplaces. In study 1 participants (N= 703) primed with gender-similarities forecasted that women would fit relatively well in a very masculine work culture compared to those primed with gender-differences. Then in study 2 (N=116) we used the minimal group paradigm to test whether thinking about group-similarities would affect how problematic a non-inclusive company culture was perceived to be. Those who believed the groups were similar judged the non-inclusive company culture as significantly less problematic to the low-status group compared to participants who read that the groups were different. A mediation analysis showed that perceived fit mediates the relationship between thinking about similarities and judgments about the company as problematic. Using the minimal groups as a proxy for gender this research suggests that thinking about gender-similarities can make problematic masculine work cultures to be seen as less problematic for women.