Its well documented that women in the workplace often face prejudice when seeking leadership roles, but new research is uncovering just how pervasive and pervasive those biases can be.

In the world of work, female leaders report facing 30 types of identity factors that discriminate against everything from body size to marital status, according to new information. research from Wilson College, Chief Information Officer Amy Diehl, Westmont College Dean Leanne Dzubinski and Clarkson University Professor Amber Stephenson, published in the peer-reviewed Human Resource Development Quarterly.

The findings come from the trio’s 2023 research into age discrimination. That paper, published in the Harvard Business Review, found that women at work face bias regardless of their age, their superiors often consider them too inexperienced if they are young and too unpromotable if they are older. The new study surveyed more than 900 women in leadership roles in four industries where women comprise a large portion of the workforce — health care, higher education, law and faith-based nonprofits.

“Surprised and shocked”

“The way we phrased the question was, ‘Tell us about any other identity factors that influence your experience,'” Diehl told CBS MoneyWatch. “We thought there would be age and race. We were surprised and shocked when we looked through the data and found 30.”

It is telling that the factors focus on personal qualities such as class, marital status and sexual orientation, rather than professional qualifications or skills, emphasizing that these biases are not relevant to determining whether a woman can perform in the workplace, the researchers said.

“There’s always an excuse disguised as a reason given to a woman about why she’s not quite right for any role,” noted Dzubinski.

Factors include:

• emphasis
• Age
• Attractiveness
• Body size
• Class
• Color
• Communication style
• Marital status
• Task
• Sexual orientation

Stumbling on the broken step

While the new research focuses on women in their 40s and 50s who have already reached leadership roles, younger women are more likely to be held back by the so-called broken rung, or when women fail to achieve a promotion in entry-level jobs. at the same rate as men, research from consulting firm McKinsey and LeanIn, the nonprofit started by former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg, found.

Their research found that bias can play a role in slowing women’s careers, with young men often being promoted based on their potential, while young women are judged more on their track record.

The new research on bias experienced by women in leadership roles did not examine how women coped with bias as they climbed the career ladder, although Diehl noted that women who reach leadership positions tend to be “thick-skinned” and could use techniques. such as diverting conversations from identity issues when they arise.

Prejudice from other women

The researchers focused on four industries where workers are either evenly split between men and women or dominated by women, although top management positions in all of these fields are typically held by men. The aim, in short, was also to examine the impact of gender bias in non-male-dominated industries.

The women leaders who responded to the survey were college presidents, vice presidents, and higher education provosts; physicians and medical administrators in the field of health; lawyers and legal partners; and women in top leadership roles in faith-based nonprofits.

“If you have women well-represented in the industry, we still see that women still face different types of bias,” Stephenson said. “It’s a very real situation and very integrated in any workplace,” regardless of gender composition.

Dzubinski added: “It used to be the argument that as soon as you got more women, it would sort itself out – it doesn’t sort itself out.”

Women may internalize bias and express it against other women in their workplace, while some may believe there isn’t enough room at the top for more than a few women, the researchers noted. This can lead to the belief that the only way to get into leadership roles is if another woman loses her seat, they said.

Can you fight prejudice in the workplace?

It is difficult for women to fight against such prejudices, given that others may judge women negatively regardless of their status, such as whether they are married or single, both of which can trigger prejudice, the research shows.

“You notice that there are contradictions — if you’re married, that’s a problem, or if you’re not married, that’s a problem,” Dzubinski told CBS MoneyWatch. “When you put them together you see they are made up excuses” to justify why women don’t deserve promotions.

Although difficult, women should try not to take identity-based criticism personally, Diehl said.

“It feels a lot like, ‘It’s about me,’ but it really isn’t. It’s about a larger, systematic gender bias that’s trying to force them out of the workplace or into support roles rather than leadership roles,” she said.

Organizations can address some of these issues by looking at their practices and checking whether these identity factors play a role in whether people get or are denied promotions, the researchers said. Another tool is to use a “flip it” strategy, applying the same statement about a woman to a man, such as “John can’t take on this role because he just had a baby,” they noted.

With a continued pushback against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives from conservative lawmakers, some companies are falling down their investment in DEI. That could accelerate under President-elect Donald Trump, who has said he will do more to eliminate these policies in his next term, while Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s playbook for the next conservative White House, propose elimination all federal rules and programs surrounding DEI.

But eliminating bias can help organizations perform better, the researchers noted.

“When woman after woman is dealing with all these things day in and day out, it takes time for them to do their real work,” Diehl told CBS MoneyWatch. “It hurts the organization in terms of the amount of quality work they can get to.”