The workplace still favors male employees.
While certain industries are taking steps toward adjusting their cultures to be more inclusive of women, there are still some that don’t seem to understand there’s a problem. The technology field is one we’ve talked about quite a bit, but female economists face similar problems.
Justin Wolfers discusses this issue in his article “When Teamwork Doesn’t Work for Women.” He says that many economists work at universities where professors must receive tenure to keep their jobs. Like other academics, this requires economists to conduct and publish research. While some of this research can be done individually, many economists work in groups. The problem is, women who work in groups rarely receive credit for their work, thus making it more difficult for them to earn tenure.
“When women write with men, their tenure prospects don’t improve at all. That is, women get essentially zero credit for the collaborative work with men,” writes Wolfers. “Papers written by women in collaboration with both a male and female co-author yield partial credit. It is only when women write with other women that they are given full credit.”
In other words, if there are multiple authors and if there is any question as to who the research belongs to, credit almost always goes to the male author involved in the research. Because economists need to be published to earn tenure, this is problematic for female economists. Wolfers talked to Heather Sarsons, a young economist who is publishing her dissertation on this subject. Sarsons notes that, because male economists receive more credit on team publications than women, “Female economists are twice as likely to be denied tenure as their male colleagues.”
Although this article focuses on women studying economics, this could easily apply to any company that puts an emphasis on teamwork and collaboration. Are we being inclusive of women when they’re on teams and committees with men? Are we listening to their ideas and giving them credit where credit is due?
As inclusive leaders, it’s our duty to answer these questions.
We need to make sure that women and their ideas are taken seriously and respected by giving them credit for their work. They shouldn’t have to take on the burden of an entire project only to have credit or compensation taken away. It’s up to us to evaluate our workplace cultures and make sure that men are respectful of women’s ideas. If women are more comfortable collaborating and sharing their ideas, then they’ll likely have more opportunities to advance their careers, which only makes our businesses stronger.
Talk to the women in your office, and ask for their feedback on their experience working in teams. Much like Sarsons is trying to do with her research, we need to give women a voice to not only express their ideas, but we need them to express when things aren’t working if we’re to fix the problem at hand.
It’s time to put the “i” in team for inclusion. Listen to all of the voices on your team. Most importantly, make sure you're giving credit to the voices that deserve it!