WIB-Capital Region: How Workplace Gender Bias Impacts New Mothers and How to Overcome It

On February 22, 2024, 15 people participated in a webinar to learn more about workplace gender bias and how it impacts new mothers. Women In Bio Capital Region invited Amy Diehl, PhD, author of the book Glass Walls: Shattering the Six Gender Bias Barriers Still Holding Women Back at Work, to speak. Dr. Diehl started out by discussing the six core barriers of gender bias described in her new book. Here are some of the takeaways:

• “Male privilege” is when men get more advantages than women in the workplace.
• Women experience “disproportionate constraints”, being assumed to play supportive roles to men. Women are expected to be cheerleaders even when it is not their job. Their ideas get rejected, while men’s ideas get accepted.
• Women receive “insufficient support” in the workplace compared to their male counterparts. Women also lack communal resources such as paid family leave, affordable childcare, universal preschool, and longer school days.
• Women encounter “devaluation,” which means they are assumed to handle office and housework, receive compliments regarding appearance but not capability, and receive a comparatively lower salary than men.
• Women face “hostility,” such as workplace harassment. Dr. Diehl discussed an interesting term called “Queen bees,” which refers to female hostility in which a woman keeps her position by pushing the other women down.
• Gender bias leads women to “acquiescence” or self-limited aspiration, where they think that they are not capable and turn down advancement opportunities to care for young children.

Next, Dr. Diehl pointed out the challenges new mothers face. The list includes expensive childcare, lack of breastfeeding and pumping space, lack of confidence, the uncertainty of fitting back into the organization, work-life balance, etc. To help mothers overcome these challenges, she proposed several strategies, including preparation, de-personalizing (not taking things personally), building a support network, self-care, and having alternatives for their careers. Finally, she recommended strategies for leaders to shatter gender bias. These included paid parental leaves, childcare, flexible schedule and remote work, virtual conferences, eliminating overwork, transparent decision-making, and flexible growth.

Speaker Biography
Amy Diehl, PhD, is an award-winning information technology leader, currently serving as Chief Information Officer at Wilson College in Chambersburg, PA. She is also a gender equity researcher and author of the new book Glass Walls: Shattering the Six Gender Bias Barriers Still Holding Women Back at Work. Her writing has appeared in numerous scholarly journal articles and book chapters, as well as in Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and Ms. Magazine. She is also a sought-after speaker, consultant, and lawsuit expert witness. Find her online at https://amy-diehl.com.