Research shows that gender bias falls into four basic patterns that arise again and again. Click on each pattern below to learn more.

Prove it Again!: When women have to work harder to establish competence.

We often hear from women that they “have to work twice as hard to get half as far.” What’s behind this? Studies show that, in jobs historically held by men, men are presumed to be competent, while women often have to prove their competence over and over again. Click on each double standard below to learn more.

Attribution Bias
Men are judged on their potential; women on their achievements
What is skill in a man is luck (or sex appeal) in a woman
He’s brilliant; she’s reliable
Recall Bias
Why can't they just let it go?
Prove it...and prove it again
Leniency Bias: How come it was okay when he did it?
Polarized Evaluations: When she is good she is very very good, but...
Loose Lips: When gender bias is open and explicit
Double Jeopardy for Women of Color

The Maternal Wall: When women encounter severe bias once they have children.

The strongest and most open form of gender bias today often is the bias against mothers. Fathers who play an active role in family care may encounter severe bias as well. Click on each maternal wall pattern below to learn more.

Negative Competence and Commitment Assumptions
Role Incongruity
Prescriptive Bias: What Mothers Should Do
Bias Avoidance
Leniency Bias
Even Women Without Children May Hit the Maternal Wall
Double Jeopardy for Women of Color
The Frigid Climate for Fathers on the Front Lines

Double Bind: When women have to choose between being liked but not seen as competent — or seen as competent but not liked.

In some workplaces, women encounter benevolent approval when they behave in traditionally feminine ways—and disapproval when they do not. When jobs are defined as requiring traditionally masculine qualities, yet women are expected to display traditionally feminine qualities, women face complex political dynamics that do not affect men. Click on each double bind below to learn more.

Pressures on Women to Act Feminine
Mother, princess, pet
Are women expected to be warm, fuzzy (and femmy)?
I live to serve...?
Just one of the girls?
Sanctions for Women Who Act Masculine
He’s incisive; she’s abrasive
Men push the envelope; women are “troublemakers”
She's a shameless self-promoter; he knows his own worth
Women don’t ask...because of fears of negative repercussions
Catch-22: Be "one of the guys"?
Double Jeopardy for Women of Color
Racialized stereotypes of deference-challenged women
I live to serve x 2

Gender Wars: When gender bias against women produces conflict among women

When women but not men are required to fit into tightly cabined roles in order to be accepted, women who play either traditionally feminine or traditionally masculine roles may end up pitted against one another. In this way, gender bias can create conflict among women. Click on each pattern below to learn more.

Glass Ceiling Gender Wars
Maternal Wall Gender Wars