After devoting time, effort, and resources to reducing bias, why are organizations still struggling to see the impact on the advancement of women to leadership positions?
Research: Why Gender Bias Persists, Even When Organizations Try to Curb It
In one company, managers were able to reduce gendered descriptions of employee traits and behaviors — but not how they valued and rewarded them.
December 20, 2023
![](https://hbr.org/resources/images/article_assets/2023/12/Dec23_14_NgadiSmart.jpg)
Illustration by Ngadi Smart
Summary.
New research provides insight into why there’s been little progress on advancing women to leadership positions. The authors worked with a professional services firm, which implemented training to reduce manager bias in performance evaluations. They found that although managers were able to curb differences in how they described employees’ traits and behaviors (“viewing biases”), they were unlikely to catch differences in how they rewarded employees for those traits and behaviors (“valuing biases”). They explore why those biases persist and provide strategies for company leaders to mitigate those biases throughout the employee life cycle.
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HBR Learning
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Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Course
Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor®. HBR Learning’s online leadership training helps you hone your skills with courses like Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging. Earn badges to share on LinkedIn and your resume. Access more than 40 courses trusted by Fortune 500 companies.
How to build a better, more just workplace.
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