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所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的发展和社会经济进步。该项目旨在更好地了解妇女在遭受骚扰时所面临的障碍。具体来说，它测试了公开反对骚扰的妇女是否受到负面的刻板印象，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女性制定策略，在她们希望公开反对骚扰时，如何最好地克服现有的偏见。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公众，让她们了解女性在面对或公开反对骚扰时所面临的微妙偏见，从而影响有关骚扰的文化信仰，消除偏见。有些人在工作中遭受过骚扰，我们几乎不知道公开反对骚扰会如何加剧工作场所的不平等。该项目使用两个在线调查实验来测试公开反对骚扰的女性可能受到的歧视。在研究1中（在YouGov上运行，N= 1000），该项目将使用一个联合实验来测试一个在各种方面不符合“理想”骚扰目标的文化原型的女性——例如，一个黑人或拉丁裔女性，或者一个以前与骚扰者有过关系的女性——是否可能被消极地定型，因此被视为不太适合就业。该项目将使用统计测试，包括t测试和回归分析，以确定骚扰目标的身份和故事的变化是否影响其感知的就业能力，并将使用正式的中介分析来测试是否有任何差异是由对她的感知介导的。在研究2中（在Amazon Mechanical Turk上运行，N=580），该项目将研究一种不同形式的反对骚扰的方式——面对煽动不受欢迎行为的人——也可能导致女性在就业结果上受到负面的刻板印象和惩罚。该项目将分析遭受性骚扰的女性在考虑公开反对性骚扰时可能面临的双重困境。尽管说出来可能有助于限制骚扰行为，但同时也可能损害许多这样做的女性的就业结果。该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。它还更广泛地为有关工作和社会中性别不平等的理论做出了贡献。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识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.