In the ever-evolving landscape of the workplace, remote work has emerged as a surprising ally in the fight against gender discrimination.
Two professors at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, Laura Doering and András Tilcsik, have shed new light on a major benefit of working from home. Their study, Location Matters: Everyday Gender Discrimination in Remote and On-Site Work, surveyed 1,000 female workers aged 18 to 75 about their experiences with gender-based slights and offenses. The measured offenses ranged from inappropriate attention and having their ideas commandeered, being excluded by co-workers, as well as being addressed with a sexist names in-office.
They found that almost a third of surveyed women — 31% — reported experiencing gender discrimination in the workplace, compared to just 17% of women who reported some form of discrimination when working remotely.
SENIORITY MADE NO DIFFERENCE
Doering says she and her co-author were inspired to launch the study after running a survey during the Covid-19 pandemic that asked women about their experiences of gender discrimination in 2019 and 2020. In that survey, women reported experiencing significantly less gender discrimination in 2020 compared to 2019 — contradicting a predominant media narrative that such discrimination was on the rise during the pandemic.
Rotman professor Laura Doering: “I hope this can be more of a call to action to think about what is happening on-site.” Courtesy photo
In their new study, Doering and Tilcsik expected to find differences across levels of seniority for women within companies — but to their surprise, they found none.
“No matter what industry professional women worked in, discrimination was true for all groups of women,” Doering tells Poets&Quants. “It almost never turns out that way in research. This was very consistent.”
The disparity was even more pronounced in male-dominated environments. Women who worked primarily with men faced a staggering 58% likelihood of experiencing gender discrimination on-site, compared to 26% when working remotely. Younger women, under the age of 30, were more susceptible to gender discrimination on-site, with 31% reporting such experiences compared to 26% of older women.
ON-SITE WORK REMAINS BEST FOR WOMEN, PROF SAYS
Though it wasn’t part of the study, Doering hypothesizes that one reason for women experiencing less discrimination in remote work is because it relies on lean communication tools like email, phone calls, and Zoom.
“When you communicate using these tools, the social cues that signal gender are flattened. If your gender isn’t obvious to me or I’m not reminded of it, I’m not going to behave in ways that take your gender into consideration as much,” she explains. Remote work also tends to be more formal, with limited chit-chat time, reducing opportunities for discriminatory moments.
Despite the study findings, Doering still strongly promotes on-site work, for several reasons.
“On-site work has all kinds of benefits. Women receive more valuable feedback and mentorship, and they have more effective managerial styles on-site compared to remote. Where we work is a trade-off,” she says.
It’s hard to say how many employers are aware that women face less discrimination when working remotely, but Doering emphasizes, “I hope this research is not taken as justification for shuttling women off into remote work. I hope this can be more of a call to action to think about what is happening on-site.”
As companies navigate the future of both in-office and remote work, retaining remote options while addressing workplace bias head-on could be key to creating a more inclusive and equitable environment for women.
