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Working in a context of hostility toward women: implications for employees' well-being
Kathi Miner-Rubino1, Lilia M Cortina
1Department of Psychology, Women's Studies Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1109, USA. kminer@umich.edu
Abstract:
This study examined how working in an organizational context perceived as hostile toward women affects employees' well-being, even in the absence of personal hostility experiences. Participants were 289 public-sector employees who denied any personal history of being targeted with general or gender-based hostility at work. They completed measures of personal demographics, occupational and physical well-being, and perceptions of the organizational context for women. Results showed that 2 contextual indices of hostility toward women related to declines in well-being for male and female employees. The gender ratio of the workgroup moderated this relationship, with employees in male-skewed units reporting the most negative effects. These findings suggest that all employees in the workplace can suffer from working in a context of perceived misogyny.
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