Barriers for women in the workplace: A social psychological perspective

We present a social psychological perspective on the barriers that women face in the workplace. We begin by reviewing the prevailing theories of gender differences such as social role theory, role congruity theory, and prescriptive gender norms and stereotypes and then extrapolate from these social psychological mechanisms for gender differences in organizations to explain various barriers, including discrimination, prejudice, performance devaluation, backlash, and more. The genesis of many of these barriers thus result from the prescriptive, at times constrictive, social expectations that influence both the external social sanctions applied to women's behavior as well as women's individual preferences. We then review four domains in which women and men differ in their preferences and behavior in the workplace: leadership, decision-making, negotiation, and influence. Finally, we acknowledge how the concept of gender is continuing to evolve, discuss its implications for economic inequality, and pose questions that will update our understanding of women in the workplace in the future.