by Ellery Campbell and Ali Gall
Overview
Women experience discrimination in the workplace in a number of ways, such as in hiring, in pay, and in cases of harassment. However, one type of gender discrimination that does not receive as much attention is the discrimination in firing and workplace punishment that women experience in comparison to men. Research across a number of occupations show that women are more likely to be fired than men. In the financial advisory industry, women were found to be 20% more likely to be fired than men following an instance of misconduct (Egan et al., 2022).
Women are also disproportionately punished for poor firm performance, as female executives in the S&P 1500 firms were found to be 15% more likely than men to be fired when there is a decline in firm performance (Landsman, 2019). Additionally, female CEOs are 45% more likely to be dismissed than male CEOs, and the likelihood of being dismissed decreases for male CEOs, but not for female CEOs, when the firm is performing well (Gupta et al., 2020). These findings on gender discrimination in firing and the handling of misconduct display that women are consistently punished based on gender biases rather than on their actual ability.
Policy Recommendations
Policy intervention could be used to ensure that firing, especially in the case of a CEO, is warranted. If a CEO is to be fired, a policy could require that this decision is evaluated by an impartial party who could determine if the firing is purely performance based or if it may be the result of gender discrimination, as we know that female CEOs are more likely to be fired than male CEOs. A summary of the case without any information relating to the gender of the CEO (with just firm performance and crucial decisions made included) could be given to a small group of people from multiple genders, who independently will evaluate the case, and conclude whether firing the person is the appropriate outcome. Also, policy could require that firms implement mandatory anti-discrimination training in hopes of reducing gender discrimination and creating a more inclusive workplace.
Consequences Without Intervention
Without implementing this policy intervention, the problems of the glass ceiling and the glass cliff will remain for women in the workforce. The glass ceiling refers to the barriers that prevent women from advancing to positions of authority in the workplace, and the glass cliff refers to the high likelihood that women will fall out of these positions of authority once they enter them (Sabharwal, 2015). These problems imply that even as we see progress in the number of women in leadership positions in the workplace, they still face additional complications when it comes to maintaining those positions. Thus, it is imperative that policies are implemented that prevent women from being punished unfairly and taking the blame for poor firm performance because of their gender.
Research Questions
One research question that emerges is how does the gender of the person handling the firing relate to how many people of each gender are fired? For example, if a man decides to fire someone, are they more likely to fire women or men? If a woman fires someone, is it more likely that the person fired is a man or woman? Another research question is which fields have the greatest and also the least gender discrimination in firing and punishment of misconduct? Is there a reason why certain fields see more gender discrimination in firing and punishment while others see less? Future research could also look into whether the gender imbalances in firing and misconduct punishment differ by region? There may be states that have higher rates of gender discrimination, and future research could look into why that is if the results show that some places do see greater imbalances in this gender discrimination. Finally, future research could look into other characteristics that may cause people to be fired and punished for misconduct more often. For instance, is this discrimination worse for women of color and women in other minority groups?
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References
Egan, M., Matvos, G., & Seru, A. (2022). When Harry Fired Sally: The Double Standard in Punishing Misconduct. Journal of Political Economy, 130(5), 1184-1248.
Gupta, V., Mortal, S., Silveri, S., Sun, M., & Turban, D. (2020). You’re Fired! Gender Disparities in CEO Dismissal. Journal of Management, 46(4), 560-582.
Landsman, R. (2019). Gender Differences in Executive Departure. Working paper.
Sabharwal, S. (2015). From Glass Ceiling to Glass Cliff: Women in Senior Executive Service
“Gender Differences in the Average Working Week.” Careersmart, careersmart.org.uk/occupations/equality/gender-differences-average-working-week. Accessed 7 Dec. 2023.
“The Work from Home Gender Gap.” EWI Works, June 9 2023, ewiworks.com/the-work-from-home-gender-gap/.