Do men generally have negative biases toward women coworkers? To shed some light on this subject, my colleague Joe Folkman and I looked at how men and women rate each other on their 360-degree evaluations. With a 360-degree evaluation, the ratings are anonymous (except for the manager) so people can feel free to express their true opinions. We collected data from over 12,000 raters. While 68% of the raters were based in the US, 5% were from Canada, 10% from Europe, 7% from South America, and 10% were from Asia. We selected only those raters who had the opportunity to give ratings to both men and women. The people being rated were the same, but the gender of the raters was different. We’ll refer to the people being rated as “ratees.” Our sample size is listed in the following table.
| Male Ratee | Female Ratee | Total | |
| Male Rater | 4597 | 2259 | 6856 |
| Female Rater | 3050 | 2160 | 5210 |
| Total | 7647 | 4419 | 12066 |
Note that 95% of the raters in this study were in management positions. This is important because when people are in positions with more power and influence their behaviors may change. Raters were in different positions relative to the ratee they were rating. 5% were managers, 44% were peers, 35% were direct reports, and 16% were in an “other” category. “Others” could be individuals from prior organizations, those two levels below the person being assessed, outside vendors, consultants, and/or customers.
Is There Bias in the Ratings of Men and Women?
We know from our previous research comparing male to female leaders on their overall leadership effectiveness that female leaders were rated slightly more positively than their male counterparts. While the difference was small, it was statistically significant. In the table below, we show the results for male and female raters rating male and female ratees. Note that both genders rated female leaders slightly, but not significantly, higher than their male counterparts. The female rater difference between males and females is slightly larger but still not significant.
| Male Rater | Male Rater |
Female Rater | Female Rater |
|||||
| Male Ratee | Female Ratee | T Value | Sig. (2-tailed) | Male Ratee | Female Ratee | T Value | Sig. (2-tailed) | |
| Overall Leadership Effectiveness | 3.86 | 3.87 | -0.66 | 0.51 | 3.82 | 3.85 | -1.25 | 0.21 |
| Takes Initiative |
4.02 | 4.10 | -4.23 | 0.00 | 3.96 | 4.07 | -5.12 | 0.00 |
| Practices Self-Development | 3.69 | 3.77 | -3.80 | 0.00 | 3.66 | 3.75 | -3.58 | 0.00 |
| Displays High Integrity & Honesty | 4.04 | 4.10 | -3.20 | 0.00 | 3.98 | 4.04 | -2.69 | 0.01 |
| Develops Others | 3.78 | 3.84 | -2.65 | 0.01 | 3.75 | 3.80 | -1.90 | 0.06 |
| Drives for Results | 3.96 | 3.98 | -1.42 | 0.16 | 3.93 | 3.99 | -2.72 | 0.01 |
| Inspires and Motivates Others | 3.67 | 3.72 | -2.05 | 0.04 | 3.67 | 3.69 | -1.08 | 0.28 |
| Champions Change | 3.86 | 3.88 | -1.04 | 0.30 | 3.84 | 3.88 | -1.97 | 0.05 |
| Technical or Professional Expertise | 4.02 | 3.96 | 3.11 | 0.00 | 4.02 | 3.99 | 1.64 | 0.10 |
| Develops Strategic Perspective | 3.87 | 3.79 | 3.70 | 0.00 | 3.84 | 3.80 | 1.66 | 0.10 |
Men and Women Have Different Leadership Strengths
In our previous research, we found that women were rated more positively on 13 of 16 competencies, while men were rated more positively on two competencies. In this research we found that women were rated more positively on seven competencies. All seven were consistent with what we found in our previous research, while the remaining six were directionally consistent with our previous research but not statistically different. Note for each of the seven competencies women are rated higher by both male and female raters. We did find one interesting difference: Male raters rated women significantly higher on their ability to inspire and motivate, but the difference for female raters was not significant. As we looked at the results, we found that one item showed a big difference between how men and women rated that item: Has the courage to make the changes that will improve the organization. For male raters, women ratees were rated slightly higher, but for female raters, women were rated significantly higher. Out of the 49 items evaluated this was the one item where we observed that male raters differed from female raters, potentially showing a slight bias.
The last two competencies in the table, Technical/Professional Expertise and Strategic Perspective, were rated significantly more positively for male ratees by male raters. This is consistent with our previous research. Female raters also rated male ratees higher, although the difference was not statistically significant at the 0.05 level.
What About Peers?
In our global database, we know that peers tend to be the most negative rater group, possibly due to a tendency to see themselves as competing with the peer that they are rating. Would the ratings of male or female peers show any gender bias? After looking at the peer results, we found that the data is extremely consistent with the overall findings. While there is not a significant difference between the overall effectiveness rating of how male peers rate their male and female counterparts, they tend to rate females slightly higher. The female raters do the same thing but the difference between males and females is smaller.
Conclusion
It is clear to us that male and female raters are very consistent in how they rate male and female colleagues. While there are a few inconsistencies that might connote some bias, they were small exceptions.
There are a number of different studies on male and female bias that suggest the existence of a negative male bias toward women. Many of the studies were conducted at universities and involved experiments in which students rated lectures.
Other studies showing bias involved evaluating an employee’s behavior in a given situation and then changing the gender of the person being evaluated. Studies rating job resumes with male and female names showed a negative bias toward women. It’s clear from all the evidence that a negative bias toward women does exist in many circumstances.
The difference between those studies and ours is that raters in this study are not rating a hypothetical man or a woman. They are rating an individual they know very well, have a relationship with, and with whom they work side by side every day.
Do biases still exist even if you know a person well? Our purpose in showing this data is not to claim that gender bias does not exist, but rather to demonstrate that it is largely overcome by personal relationships. The good news for anyone who feels that there is bias against them is that by building relationships with others and doing an excellent job, the bias usually dissipates.
Researchers are often reluctant to publish these kinds of results. If there are no huge differences to report, there is less drama or fanfare. However, this data tells an important story. It is evidence that the prevalent stereotypes and assumptions about male and female prejudice are generally not true in the workplace. Just as Sherlock Holmes solved one of his classic cases “because the dog did not bark,” so the overall absence of differences in male and female raters’ 360-degree feedback ratings carries an extremely important message.
