London - More than half of workers think women’s behaviour in the office is dictated by their hormones, a survey reveals.
And men are apparently more likely than women to blame hormones for their colleague’s actions.
About 54 percent of employees – the majority of them male – were found to believe that female biology controlled women’s actions. Just under half thought the sexes had different capabilities and, startlingly, around one in seven admitted they would not trust a woman as their manager.
Pollsters said the survey, which questioned 2 000 workers of both sexes, raised concerns about how women are treated at work. Grace Garland from comparison site Expert Market, which carried out the poll, said: “What is worrying about this, is that it means whenever a woman is being assertive, or feels unhappy about something and speaks up, her opinions might be dismissed as being a hormonal reaction rather than something based upon judgment.
“These outmoded stereotypes have the power to undermine females in the workplace and hark back to a time when they were diagnosed with ‘hysteria’ any time they were outspoken or showed emotion.”
Miss Garland added: “What is most interesting about these results is that I don’t think most of the respondents would see what they said as being inherently sexist.
“Both women and men said they thought females were controlled by their hormones, despite holding quite forward-thinking views on things like shared parental leave.”
And the views are not limited to lower ranking workers, either. Two thirds of managers said they would consider whether a woman might go on maternity leave before offering her a job.
Daily Mail