Many female workers feel their gender makes it harder to succeed

A new survey found that female employees, particularly those working in management, feel that their gender is holding them back.

Of the 2,600 UK workers surveyed, female employees are twice as likely to see their gender as a barrier to success compared to male workers.

The research, compiled by Ciphr, shows that 32% of female respondents working in leadership or senior management positions say they’ve suffered discriminatory experiences at work, or been treated unfavourably during recruitment because of their gender.

Interestingly, self-employed workers also feel affected by this – nearly one in five (18%) self-employed women, compared to 0.9% of self-employed men, felt that their gender had made it harder to be successful in their work.

Claire Williams, chief people and operations officer at Ciphr, said, “While our survey didn’t directly capture the reasons why many female managers might feel their gender has made it harder for them to succeed, there’s a lot of existing research and experience that can shed light on these results.

“Stereotypes and gender bias (both unconscious and overt) are still a reality that many women must contend with. This can have a direct impact on women’s ability to succeed and progress.

“Also, often, it can have a secondary impact on their confidence in the workplace, where fear of having their behaviours viewed negatively (the ‘likeability penalty’) can affect how their competence and authority are perceived.

“Research consistently shows that women tend to be judged more harshly for mistakes and are often held to higher standards to ‘prove’ their competence, especially in technical fields. Women may face microaggressions or even overt sexism, which creates a sense that they must work harder to be taken seriously. This can also lead to a ‘performance tax’, where female managers feel the need to over-prepare, over-perform, and self-censor to avoid reinforcing negative stereotypes.”

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