Women who leave the workplace: Opting out or overlooking discrimination?

ScienceDaily (July 27, 2011) — For the first time in history, the majority of Americans believe that women's job opportunities are equal to men's. For example, a 2005 Gallup poll indicated that 53 percent of Americans endorse the view that opportunities are equal, despite the fact that women still earn less than men, are underrepresented at the highest levels of many fields, and face other gender barriers such as bias against working mothers and inflexible workplaces.

New research from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University helps to explain why many Americans fail to see these persistent gender barriers. The research demonstrates that the common American assumption that behavior is a product of personal choice fosters the belief that opportunities are equal and that gender barriers no longer exist in today's workplace.

The study, "Opting Out or Denying Discrimination? How the Framework of Free Choice in American Society Influences Perceptions of Gender Inequality," suggests that the assumption that women "opt out" of the workforce, or have the choice between career or family, promotes the belief that individuals are in control of their fates and are unconstrained by the environment.

The study was co-authored by Nicole M. Stephens, assistant professor of management and organizations at the Kellogg School of Management, and Cynthia S. Levine, a doctoral student in the psychology department at Stanford University. It will be published in a forthcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

"Although we've made great strides toward gender equality in American society, significant obstacles still do, in fact, hold many women back from reaching the upper levels of their organizations," said Stephens. "In our research, we sought to determine how the very idea of 'opting out,' or making a choice to leave the workplace, may be maintaining these social and structural barriers by making it more difficult to recognize gender discrimination."

In one study, a group of stay-at-home mothers answered survey questions about how much choice they had in taking time off from their career and about their feelings of empowerment in making life plans and controlling their environment.

The participants then reviewed a set of real statistics about gender inequality in four fields -- business, politics, law and science/engineering -- and were asked to evaluate whether these barriers were due to bias against women or societal and workplace factors that make it difficult for women to hold these positions.

As predicted, most women explained their workplace departure as a matter of personal choice -- which is reflective of the cultural understanding of choice in American society and underscores how the prevalence of choice influences behavior. These same women experienced a greater sense of personal well-being, but less often recognized the examples of discrimination and structural barriers presented in the statistics.

In a follow-up experiment, the researchers examined the consequences of the common cultural representation of women's workplace departure as a choice. Specifically, they examined how exposure to a choice message influenced Americans' beliefs about equality and the existence of discrimination. First, undergraduate students were subtly exposed to one of two posters on a wall about women leaving the workforce: either a poster with a choice message ("Choosing to Leave: Women's Experiences Away from the Workforce") or one in a control condition that simply said "Women at Home: Experiences Away from the Workforce."

Then, the participants were asked to take a survey about social issues. The participants exposed to the first poster with the choice message more strongly endorsed the belief that opportunities are equal and that gender discrimination is nonexistent, versus the control group who more clearly recognized discrimination. Interestingly, those participants who considered themselves to be feminists were more likely than other participants to identify discrimination.

"This second experiment demonstrates that even subtle exposure to the choice framework promotes the belief that discrimination no longer exists," said Levine. "One single brief encounter -- such as a message in a poster -- influenced the ability to recognize discrimination. Regular exposure to such messages could intensify over time, creating a vicious cycle that keeps women from reaching the top of high-status fields."

Overall, Stephens and Levine noted that while choice may be central to women's explanations of their own workplace departure, this framework is a double-edged sword.

"Choice has short-term personal benefits on well-being, but perhaps long-term detriments for women's advancement in the workplace collectively," said Stephens. "In general, as a society we need to raise awareness and increase attention for the gender barriers that still exist. By taking these barriers into account, the discussion about women's workplace departure could be reframed to recognize that many women do not freely choose to leave the workplace, but instead are pushed out by persistent workplace barriers such as limited workplace flexibility, unaffordable childcare, and negative stereotypes about working mothers."

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Association for Psychological Science.

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

View the original article here

Workplace mental health disability leave recurs sooner than physical health leave, CAMH study shows

ScienceDaily (June 29, 2011) — The recurrence of an employee's medical leave of absence from work tends to happen much sooner with a mental health leave than a physical one, a Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) study shows.

Most workers who take a mental health leave from their jobs do not have another disability leave for at least two years, according to a new study from CAMH. In contrast, most who have had a physical health disability leave have almost four years before a second episode.

Mental health disability leaves cost approximately $51 billion a year in Canada in health care and work disruption costs, and those with a previous episode are at higher risk of having another one.

"If we understand the timing of a repeated episode, as well as who is at risk of having a recurrence, we can develop more effective prevention programs to help people stay at work," says Dr. Carolyn Dewa, study lead and head of CAMH's Centre for Research on Employment and Workplace Health. The study was published in the June issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

For their study, Dr. Dewa and colleagues looked at the records of a Canadian company with 13,000 employees from 2003 to 2006. Among this group, 3,593 employees had one or more disability leaves during this period. An episode was at least five continuous days off work related to a medical diagnosis.

Among all workers, 72 per cent who had a disability leave were still at work after a year. Those who were more likely to have a second episode sooner included women, maintenance workers and those with disrupted marriages.

"It's important to be aware that although workers who have had one mental health disability leave are at risk of having a recurrence, it doesn't happen immediately," added Dr. Dewa. "These workers want to be back at work, but unfortunately, sometimes supports to help maintain their health are not available." It is important to do return-to-work planning to help employees transition back after a leave. Workplace resources can be very valuable in sustaining worker well-being and help them remain on the job longer.

It is a complex task to untangle the reasons why mental health disability leave recurs sooner than those for physical health. It is possible the workers in the study had not fully recovered when they returned, because some aspects of their illness were overlooked, the researchers point out.

"The workers' major symptoms may have subsided, but their ability to work may still be impaired due to memory loss or inability to focus," says Dr. Dewa. "The return-to-work forms that physicians fill out don't always ask about a person's functional abilities at work, just about medical symptoms. And workers may attribute symptoms such as memory loss or lack of focus to aging."

If a workers' ability to do their job is impaired, it could create resentment among their colleagues -- and there is growing evidence to suggest social support, both within and outside the workplace, is important to prevent psychiatric disorders. This may explain, for example, why those with disrupted marriages relapsed sooner. Past research also shows a link between low social support and depression in women.

Finding the right balance of providing social support without intruding too much or violating a person's privacy is challenging, but possible, says Dr. Dewa. "Occupational health staff can provide support or just check in with workers who have had a previous disability leave. People like it when you genuinely care about the answer to, 'How are you?'"

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

View the original article here