Outspoken women risk more than men

The Human Edge's Helene Vermaak says emotional inequality is unacceptable and needs to be addressed at a cultural, legal, organisational and social level. Picture: Supplied

The Human Edge's Helene Vermaak says emotional inequality is unacceptable and needs to be addressed at a cultural, legal, organisational and social level. Picture: Supplied

Published Oct 4, 2015

Share

Johannesburg - A study about emotional inequality at the office has found that women who speak up are risking more than men.

Research undertaken by The Human Edge’s international partner, VitalSmarts, revealed that a woman’s perceived competency drops by 35 percent when she is assertive or forceful in the workplace.

Assertive men are also affected, but to a lesser degree.

Helene Vermaak, business director at The Human Edge, says the study confirms that emotional inequality is real and a common occurrence in the workplace.

“Women are burdened with the assumption that they will conform to cultural stereotypes that typecast them as caring and nurturing,” Vermaak says.

“Speaking forcefully violates these cultural norms and women are judged more harshly than men for the same degree of assertiveness.

“Emotional inequality is unacceptable and it needs to be addressed at a cultural, legal, organisational and social level. Changing this may be a lengthy process.”

There are skills that can be developed for use in the workplace to be more forceful, assertive and honest, without experiencing social backlash, Vermaak believes.

The skills that The Human Edge and VitalSmarts propose can reduce the damage of workplace bias by 27 percent, enabling women and men in the office to speak their minds more consciously with minimal repercussions.

“Organisations and employees can address this inequality by firstly being aware of the bias. Often this occurs unconsciously, and everything possible should be done to address this,” says Vermaak.

“Secondly, women and men should learn about framing skills and how to apply them to assist in mitigating the bias.”

Vermaak says that by using a brief, framing statement, that demonstrates deliberation, forethought and control, the social consequence and emotional inequality effects are reduced.

A backlash occurs when observers use emotion to draw negative conclusions about the speaker’s intent.

Individuals are encouraged to frame an assertive statement with a “behaviour phrase”, a “value phrase” and an “inoculation phrase”, to reduce the negative perception.

“Taking a few seconds to explain positive intent before stating the content helps reduce this,” says Vermaak. Examples of these phrases are:

* Behaviour phrase: “I’m going to express my opinion very directly. I’ll be as specific as possible.”

* Value phrase: “I see this as a matter of honesty and integrity, so it’s important for me to be clear about where I stand.”

* Inoculation phrase: “I know it’s a risk for a woman to speak this assertively, but I’m going to express my opinion very directly.”

From the three phases that can be used to explain intent, the findings revealed that the behaviour and value frames are effective and safe to be used repeatedly.

The inoculation phrase, on the other hand, may create short-term benefits, but ultimately damage a user’s reputation.

“If not acknowledged or managed correctly, emotional inequality and social backlash can adversely affect your career and an organisation’s effectiveness,” concludes Vermaak.

* See www.crucialskills.com for more on the research findings.

STAR WORKPLACE

Related Topics: