Women must Prove it Again. And Again.
“[W]omen and people of color are held to higher standards than white men in the profession of architecture,” the authors of the 2021 AIA/The Center for WorkLife Law investigation into bias found. To get the same level of respect or recognition, members of these underrepresented groups must work harder and longer than privileged white men. Study authors Joan C. Williams et al. found that within the architectural profession, about 42 percent of white women and 55 percent of women of color reported having to work twice as hard to receive the same level of recognition. This compares to 15 percent of white men.
This “prove-it-again” bias, in which women and members of other underrepresented groups must accomplish more to be judged as equal, is found across professions. Given the stereotypes endemic to our society, “Some groups must provide more evidence of competence to be seen as equally competent,” Williams et al. found. We link competence and maleness, another study found (DongWon Oh et al., 2018), leading to men being favored for advancement. When unrecognized and uncorrected, bias can lead to unfair hiring, performance review, work assignment, promotion, and pay practices.
While burnout is one risk to employees working to meet the higher standards caused by “prove-it-again” bias, employers may also pay a cost. As a result of the workplace inequities women have experienced in the course of their careers, women trust their employers less than men do—and the gap grows as their careers progress, researchers Ashley Reichheld et al. found. The less trust the employee has, the less engaged they are and the more likely they are to leave the company. Think it’s not a problem for your team? Leaders overestimate the level of trust their employees have in them by about 40 percent, the same researchers found.
Office workers, c. 1915 - 1923. (Harris & Ewing via the Library of Congress)
There are several actions employees at any level can implement to recognize and address this bias. Lean In offers a 5-minute video of Joan C. Williams, an author of the AIA/The Center for WorkLife Law investigation report, discussing “prove-it-again” bias. The organization also offers a discussion guide to help address this bias in the workplace. Among the suggestions in this guide are:
Hold leaders accountable when you see a double-standard. Asking them to explain a decision or evaluation may cause them to think more fairly and act less reflexively based on stereotypes.
Track your work successes and record compliments received, and bring these to your performance reviews so you will be judged on performance rather than perceived potential.
When an idea first uttered by a woman gains traction only when repeated by a man, call it out. Say something like, “Yes, I agree with you that [woman’s name’s] idea has merit,” or, when it’s your idea being “bro-propriated,” say, “I’m glad you picked up on that idea—here’s what else I’ve been thinking on that.”
Each employee can also spend ten minutes taking an Implicit Association Test to learn what biases they have in associating gender with career and family. Without understanding our unconscious biases, it is difficult to correct for them.
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