Remote work could be a “protective shield” against gender discrimination

Physically benefit staff in the workplace through stronger team collaboration and informal mentorship.

But as organizations continue to bring employees back to their offices, women should recognize that they pay prices through increased exposure to gender discrimination, according to a new study from the University of Toronto’s Rottman School of Management.

In a study of over 1,000 professional women at Hybrid Jobs, Laura Doling, an associate professor of strategic management, and Andrustil Sick, Canada’s research committee chair for strategy, organization and society, found that there was less gender discrimination in everyday interactions when workers were working remotely compared to people.

These differences were substantial. Approximately 31% reported physical gender discrimination at work, compared to 17% when working physically in the workplace. When researchers performed their own statistical probability analysis based on their findings, the gap was a starker for women who only or mostly worked with men. There, there was a 58% chance of experiencing gender discrimination in the field compared to 26% when working remotely.

Young women under the age of 30 could also experience gender discrimination in the field. It was 31% compared to 26% of older women, and only 14% of young women who were more likely to experience them while working remotely.

“It’s rare to reveal findings that apply very consistently to so many people working under so many different conditions,” says Doering, an associate professor of strategic management. “It didn’t matter how you sliced ​​the data.”

Female workers ages 18-75 were asked to report their perceptions of how they were treated in the workplace based on 11 different forms of gender-based minority and crime. These are given inappropriate care, their ideas are ignored or stolen, assigned tasks that are unrelated to work, excluded by colleagues, and addressed in sexist names during meetings.

Given the consistency of the results, researchers concluded that remote work effectively serves as a “protective shield” and “refuge” against gender discrimination among many women.

“Our findings suggest that a higher incidence of everyday gender discrimination can undermine job satisfaction among women and increase burnout,” says Professor Doering. “As time goes by, this can make it difficult to maintain talented employees and negatively affect the performance of your team.”

Nevertheless, the findings should not suggest that remote work is the ultimate solution to gender discrimination, Professor Doering said, but show the importance of maintaining remote working options while leaders are trying to eliminate workplace bias.

“It’s important to consider why women experience gender discrimination first,” she said. “Learning to learn about this research encourages efforts to address gender discrimination rather than pushing women into far-reaching roles as a way to solve problems.”

This study has been published in Organizational Science.