A confirmatory study of the relations between workplace sexism, sense of belonging, mental health, and job satisfaction among women in male‐dominated industries

The Effect of the Benevolent Experienced Sexism and the Sexual Myths on Women's Health

The impact of sexism on health has been widely demonstrated. However, literature affirms sexual myths, as sexual harassment myths, avoid some behaviours being perceived as sexist. This result has been found frequently in studies of simulated situations with students. This research examines the effect of endorsement of sexual myths and of benevolent experienced sexism on women's health. A first study evaluated the psychometric properties of Spanish' version of benevolent experienced sexism (EBX-SP). In a second study, a hierarchical multiple regression tested the effect of the two variables on health. Results indicated that benevolent experienced sexism, has more effect in the prediction of health than endorsement of sexual myths. Women who experienced sexual harassment declared fewer myths than those who have not. The women who have suffered sexual harassment also had poorer health and reported more benevolent sexist experiences. Our results suggest that myths do not affect the perception of the benevolent sexist experiences that women undergo, which has an impact on health.

Intent to Leave Associated More Strongly with Workplace Belonging Than Leadership Behaviors of Supervisor in Women Health Care Professionals

Background: The attrition of health care professionals from institutions has historically been high, with reports of higher rates in women than men. High attrition jeopardizes the institution's financial stability, quality of patient care, and scholarly contributions to advancing health care. The disproportionate loss of women reduces the diversity of perspectives and skills needed to meet patient needs. Attrition risk has been demonstrated to relate to both the leadership behaviors of supervisors and the sense of belonging in the workplace. Toward informing health care institutions about strategies for curtailing high attrition, we sought to assess the relative strength of the association of attrition risk with leadership behaviors of supervisors versus workplace belonging. Methods: Attendees of a continuing education course on women's leadership skills in health care were surveyed about the intent to leave (ITL) their institution within 2 years, perceived leadership behaviors of their supervisor, and experiences of workplace belonging. Dimensions of workplace belonging were identified by factor analysis. The strength of association of ITL with supervisor's leadership behaviors and each workplace belonging dimension was analyzed in a multivariable ordinal logistic regression model. Results: Women comprised 94% of survey participants. In the regression analysis, lower ITL was associated strongly with more frequent experiences of institutional culture supporting workplace belonging, modestly with more favorable perceptions of supervisor's leadership behaviors, and not with frequency of experiences of interpersonal relationships supporting workplace belonging. Conclusions: An institutional culture that supports workplace belonging is particularly important for reducing attrition risk in health care professionals. For health care institutions seeking to improve retention of its professionals and women in particular, our findings point to investing in a culture of workplace belonging that involves a diverse workforce, an environment in which its professionals feel heard, supported, and empowered and are provided strong career advancement opportunities.

A systematic review of the literature: Gender-based violence in the construction and natural resources industry

Gender-based violence (GBV) poses a significant concern in the construction and natural resources industries, where women, due to lower social status and integration, are at heightened risk. This systematic review aimed to identify the prevalence and experience of GBV in the construction and natural resources industries. A systematic search across databases including PubMed, OVID, Scopus, Web of Science, and CINAHL was conducted. The Risk of Bias Instrument for Cross-sectional Surveys of Attitudes and Practices by McMaster University and the Critical Appraisal of Qualitative Studies by the Center for Evidence Based Medicine at the University of Oxford were used to assess the studies included in the review. Six articles were included after full-text analysis. GBV was reported in the construction, mining, urban forestry, and arboriculture sectors. Workplace GBV was measured differently across the studies, and all studies examined more than one form of GBV. The main forms of GBV discussed in these studies were discrimination, sexual harassment, and sexism. The studies provided some insight for demographic factors that may or may not be associated with GBV, such as age, region of work, and number of years working in the industry. The review also suggests that workplace GBV has a negative impact on mental health and well-being outcomes, such as higher levels of stress and lower job satisfaction. The current research has not established the effectiveness of interventions, tools, or policies in these workplaces. Thus, additional research should include intervention studies that aim to minimize or prevent GBV in male-dominated workplaces. The current study can bring awareness and acknowledgement towards GBV in the workplace and highlight the importance of addressing it as this review outlines the negative consequences of GBV on mental health and well-being in these male-dominated industries.

Workplace sense of belonging and paramedic wellbeing using network analysis: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Workplace sense of belonging is an important contributor to health and wellbeing. It may be even more important for paramedics to buffer against distress inherent in the workplace. To date, however, there has been no research on paramedic workplace sense of belonging and wellbeing.

METHODS

Using network analysis, this study aimed to identify the dynamic relationships of workplace sense of belonging in paramedics with variables associated with wellbeing and ill-being-identity, coping self-efficacy and unhealthy coping. Participants were a convenience sample of 72 employed paramedics.

RESULTS

The results showed workplace sense of belonging linked to other variables through distress, distinguishable by the relationship with unhealthy coping for wellbeing and ill-being. The relationships between identity (perfectionism and sense of self) as well as the relationship between perfectionism and unhealthy coping were stronger for those with ill-being than observed for those with wellbeing.

CONCLUSIONS

These results identified the mechanisms by which the paramedicine workplace can contribute to distress and unhealthy coping strategies, which can lead to mental illnesses. They also highlight contributions of individual components of sense of belonging highlighting potential targets for interventions to reduce the risk of psychological distress and unhealthy coping amongst paramedics in the workplace.

Female Medical Students’ Experiences of Sexism during Clinical Placements: A Qualitative Study

In the UK, more women are studying medicine than men, most of whom have experienced sexism, yet these experiences are under-researched. This qualitative study explores female medical students’ experiences of sexism on placement, impacts sustained, barriers and facilitators encountered upon reporting. A total of 17 semi-structured interviews were conducted, employing purposive sampling, snowball sampling and an inductive thematic analysis. A qualitative methodology was underpinned by the feminist social constructionist theory. Four themes were identified: 1—experiences of sexism, comprising physical and verbal harassment and microaggressions; 2—negative impacts of sexist encounters ranged from psychosocial to repercussions on learning and development; 3—systemic and attitudinal barriers to reporting; 4—recommendations to tackle sexism shaped by the views and experiences of female medical student participants. Female medical students experienced wide-ranging sexism which negatively impacted their wellbeing with negative repercussions for their training and development. The barriers to reporting need to be urgently addressed, and systems, policies and processes need to be over-hauled to sensitively, effectively and equitably manage and provide justice to students who experience and report sexism. Students need to be empowered to respond, report and be offered psychological safety in doing so. Attitudes and practices which are complicit in sustaining sexism need to be challenged and changed.

The impact of continuous use intention of cooperative members on new agricultural technologies

The widespread application of new agricultural technologies promotes an increase in agricultural production and income and in the optimization and adjustment of the industrial structure. However, there are problems such as low promotion efficiency, an insufficient transformation of achievements, and a mismatch of supply and demand in the process of promotion. Based on the research context of farmer cooperatives in China, this study explores the factors influencing the continuous use intention of cooperative members toward new agricultural technologies and builds a research structure based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model, which includes performance expectations, effort expectations, cooperative social impact, and policy support. A total of 401 valid questionnaires were collected, and the data were analyzed in three stages using descriptive statistics, a measurement validation model, and a structural equation model, using a survey questionnaire and by inviting members of farmer cooperatives within China to participate in an online survey through a web-based electronic questionnaire. The results of the study found that policy support plays a dominant role in the intention of cooperative members of farmers to use new agricultural technologies consistently, and cooperative social impact plays a facilitating role, while factors such as performance expectation and effort expectation also have a significantly positive effect on the intention to use consistently.

Foreign early career academics' well-being profiles at workplaces in Japan: a person-oriented approach

The well-being of foreign early career academics (FECAs) has been the subject of research attention in relation to present demanding academic milieux in general and to those unfamiliar workplace settings in particular. A traditional variable-oriented approach that focuses on mean scores can easily gloss over the diverse nature of the group under study. Our study, conducted in Japan, took a person-oriented approach and identified FECAs' distinct well-being profiles and the associations of their personal attributes with the profiles. Most (64%) were classified as having the highest stress scores and moderate scores for sense of belonging, control of workload and career development engagement. The second-largest profile (29%) included FECAs characterised by the lowest stress score and a strong sense of belonging, control of workload and career development engagement. Those in the smallest profile (8%), who had moderate levels of workload control and stress, lacked a sufficient sense of belonging and career development engagement. Among FECAs' personal attributes, contract type was significantly associated with their distribution across the three well-being profiles, whereas no attributes of FECAs' unique nature significantly pertained to their distribution. Our results suggested that support for well-being may be important regardless of background. Our investigation, using multifaceted well-being subscales over a composite scale, offers analytical, strategic support for academics in globalised higher education.

Daily Environments During Emerging Adulthood and Gender Atypical Occupational Choices: The Role of Sexist Experiences

Past research on occupational choices often focuses on the role of personal attributes. Research is needed that examines whether daily environments and individuals’ reactivity to these environments contribute to occupational choices. This study utilizes experience sampling methodology to examine whether daily sexism and affective reactivity to sexism predict the gender typicality of desired occupations of emerging adults in male-dominated majors (MDMs). 40 women and 40 men college students in MDMs reported desired occupations and experiences of sexism and general mood during the past hour four times a day for 2 weeks – allowing for an examination of whether some individuals report a more negative mood when they recently experienced sexism (i.e., reactivity). Results indicated that higher reactivity to sexism (but not daily sexism) predicted women desiring more female-typed and men desiring more male-typed occupations. Results suggest that career counselors should consider the role of daily sexism in career development.

Prejudice confrontation styles: A validated and reliable measure of how people confront prejudice

While research has demonstrated that confrontations of prejudice serve as effective prejudice reduction tools and as a coping mechanism for targets of prejudice, research has yet to identify a validated measurement of prejudice confrontation styles. The present research develops the Prejudice Confrontation Styles (PCS) Scale, which includes five styles of prejudice confrontation: Educational, Argumentative, Help-seeking, Empathy, and Humor. The factor structure of the PCS Scale is identified across two diverse samples employing exploratory (Study 1) and confirmatory (Study 2) factor analyses. Moreover, the PCS Scale demonstrates construct validity, predicting imagined confrontation styles two weeks later among women confronting prejudice, and prejudice confrontation styles moderated autonomy, rumination, and perceived effectiveness of prejudice confrontations (Study 3). Thus, the present research identifies and develops a tool to measure prejudice confrontation styles and demonstrates that prejudice confrontation styles are associated with divergent psychological health outcomes.

Falsification of the Sexual Experiences Questionnaire: No Evidence of Systemic Sexual Harassment in Academic STEM

Herein, the socio-psychological narrative of sexual harassment (SH) is critically evaluated. The notion of systemic SH in university departments of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is contradicted by the overwhelming (>90%) career satisfaction among female STEM academics. The Sexual Experiences Questionnaire (SEQ), central to the study of SH, inheres the nominalistic fallacy. SEQ usage deploys subjectivist methodologies, categorical ambiguity, the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy, and treats respondents as cyphers. Intercorrelation of SEQ factors reduces response statistics by 42%, while phase-space vector geometry indicates the SEQ does not measure SH. Personality analysis implies that serial abusers dominate the incidence of SH. The widespread notion that 20–25% of female college students suffer violent sexual assault rests on a misreading of published work. The 2016 Campus Climate Survey permits an upper limit estimate that 3.2% of female college students suffer rape at the hands of 4.3% of male student perpetrators, largely accompanied by drugs or alcohol. The 2018 National Academy (NAS) Report on sexual harassment in STEM exhibits negligent scholarship and carelessly generalizing statistics and may itself promote violation of the EEOC legal definition of SH. Despite instances of grievous sex-based abuse, there is no evidence that female STEM academics face systemic sexual harassment. Finally, evolutionary psychology and the social significance of personality provide a scientific understanding of SH.

Examining the association between sexism, self-objectification, empowerment, and alcohol-related problems: Pathways through drinking to cope

While research suggests that sexism is associated with college women's hazardous alcohol use, few studies have investigated the psychological factors that underlie the association between sexism and alcohol-related problems. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to examine the direct and indirect effect of gender-relevant sociocultural factors, including sexism, self-objectification, and empowerment, on college women's alcohol-related problems through drinking to cope. 450 women attending a large public university completed a cross-sectional survey that assessed these gender-relevant sociocultural factors and alcohol-related outcomes. Controlling for Greek membership, perceived drinking norms, and alcohol use, sexism and empowerment were both directly associated with alcohol-related problems, while sexism, self-objectification, and empowerment were indirectly associated with alcohol-related problems through the mechanism of drinking to cope. The results of this study highlight the importance of taking into account gender-relevant risk factors for women's alcohol-related problems, as well as the role of psychological processes such as drinking to cope. Pathways for intervention on both individual and systemic levels are discussed.

Evidence that investors penalize female founders for lack of industry fit

Are female founding CEOs penalized when raising funds for their ventures based on industry served? Across an observational study conducted on ventures seeking funding (N = 392) and an experimental study conducted on investors allocating venture funding (N = 130), we find evidence for a "lack of fit" effect: Female-led ventures catering to male-dominated industries receive significantly less funding at significantly lower valuations than female-led ventures catering to female-dominated industries. In contrast, male-led ventures attain similar funding and valuation outcomes regardless of the gender dominance of the industries to which they cater. We confirm that this is because investors perceive lower degrees of fit between founding CEO and venture for female-led ventures catering to male- as opposed to female-dominated industries (with no perceived fit differences for male-led ventures across industries). Degree of investor sophistication emerges as a potential attenuating factor, appearing to help reduce gender bias from perceived lack of fit.