Doctoral Dissertation Research: Does Speaking Out Against Harassment Lead Women to be Negatively Stereotyped at Work?

了解在工作中受到骚扰的女性面临的障碍对于分析美国的性别平等至关重要，因为骚扰严重阻碍了女性在社会经济上蓬勃发展和进步的能力。该项目旨在更好地了解妇女在遭受骚扰时所面临的障碍。具体地说，它测试了公开反对骚扰的女性是否具有负面成见，从而在工作中处于不利地位。更好地了解这些障碍可以帮助妇女制定战略，当她们希望公开反对骚扰时，如何最好地驾驭现有的偏见。调查结果也可以被组织用来制定政策，考虑到公开反对骚扰的障碍。最后，这项研究可以用来教育普通公众，了解女性在面对或公开反对骚扰时面临的微妙偏见，以影响有关骚扰的文化信仰并削弱偏见。有些人在工作中遭受骚扰，而我们对公开反对骚扰会加剧工作场所的不平等知之甚少。该项目使用两个在线调查实验来测试对公开反对骚扰的女性可能存在的歧视。在研究1中(在YouGov上运行，N=1,000)，该项目将使用联合实验来测试在各种方面不符合“理想”骚扰目标的文化原型的女性--例如，黑人或拉丁裔女性，或者以前与骚扰她的人有过关系的女性--可能是负面的刻板印象，因此被认为不太适合工作。该项目将使用统计检验，包括t检验和回归分析，以确定骚扰目标的身份和故事的差异是否会影响她感知的就业能力，并将使用正式的中介分析来测试任何差异是否通过对她的感知来调节。在研究2(在亚马逊土耳其机械网上运行，N=580)中，该项目将研究另一种公开反对骚扰的形式--对抗煽动不受欢迎的行为的人--可能也会导致女性在就业结果上受到负面刻板印象和惩罚。这个项目将分析遭受骚扰的女性在考虑公开反对时可能面临的双重束缚。尽管直言不讳可能有助于限制骚扰行为，但它可能同时损害许多这样做的女性的就业结果。这个项目通过将骚扰与就业能力的认知联系起来，推进了劳动力市场不平等的社会学理论。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Understanding the barriers faced by women who are harassed at work is critical to analyzing gender equality in the United States, because harassment severely handicaps women’s ability to thrive and advance socioeconomically. This project seeks to build a better understanding of the barriers that women face when they experience harassment. Specifically, it tests whether women who speak out against harassment are negatively stereotyped and therefore disadvantaged at work. A better understanding of these barriers can help women strategize how to best navigate existing biases when they wish to speak out against harassment. Findings can also be used by organizations to craft policies that take into account the barriers to speaking out against harassment. Finally, this research can be used to educate the general public about the subtle biases that women face when they confront or speak out against harassment in order to influence cultural beliefs about harassment and erode biases. Some individuals experience harassment at work, and we know little about how speaking out against harassment can exacerbate workplace inequality. This project uses two online survey experiments to test for possible discrimination against women who speak out against harassment. In Study 1, (run on YouGov, N=1,000) the project will use a conjoint experiment to test whether a woman who does not fit the cultural archetype of the “ideal” harassment target in various ways – for example, a Black or Latina woman, or a woman who had previously been in a relationship with her harasser – may be negatively stereotyped and therefore viewed as less employable. The project will use statistical tests, including t-tests and regression analyses, to determine whether variations in a harassment target’s identity and story influence her perceived employability, and will use formal mediation analysis to test whether any differences are mediated by perceptions of her. In Study 2 (run on Amazon Mechanical Turk, N=580), the project will examine how a different form of speaking out against harassment – confronting the person who instigated unwanted behavior – may also cause women to be negatively stereotyped and penalized on employment outcomes. This project will analyze the double bind that women who experience harassment may face when they consider speaking out against it. Although speaking out may help to limit the harassing behavior, it may simultaneously damage the employment outcomes of many women who do so. This project advances sociological theories of labor market inequality by linking harassment to perceptions of employability. It also contributes more broadly to theories regarding gender inequality at work and in society more generally.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.