Publications

Educators

October 6, 2015
Article

Compared to Men, Women View Professional Advancement as Equally Attainable, but Less Desirable

By: Francesca Gino, Caroline Ashley Wilmuth and Alison Wood Brooks

Women are underrepresented in most high-level positions in organizations. While a great deal of research has provided evidence that bias and discrimination give rise to and perpetuate this gender disparity, in the current research, we explore another explanation: men... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Gender

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06 Mar 2019
Sharpening Your Skills

Has the Glass Ceiling Been Broken (or at Least Cracked)?

Employers Favor MenWhy are women discriminated against in hiring decisions? The reason is subtle. Simple Ways to Take Gender Bias Out of Your Job Ads The book What Works: View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

04 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

How Schmoozing with the Boss Helps Men Get Promoted

new research. In fact, social bonding among men may account for more than a third of the gender gap in promotions, according to the working paper The Old Boys’ Club: Schmoozing and the Gender Gap. “I’m not... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

November, 2016
Article

Fixing Discrimination in Online Marketplaces

By: Ray Fisman and Michael Luca

Online marketplaces such as eBay, Uber, and Airbnb have the potential to reduce racial, gender, and other forms of bias that affect the off-line world. And in the early days of Internet commerce, the relative anonymity of transactions did make it harder for... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Race; Gender

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06 Nov 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, November 6, 2018

Transition to Democracy Promotion The Pivot: Neoconservatives, the Philippines, and the Democracy Agenda By: Fibiger, Mattias Abstract—No abstract available. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=54829 forthcoming Organization Science An... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

2014
Article

Investors Prefer Entrepreneurial Ventures Pitched by Attractive Men

By: Alison Wood Brooks, Laura Huang, Sarah Kearney and Fiona Murray

Entrepreneurship is a central path to job creation, economic growth, and prosperity. In the earliest stages of start-up business creation, the matching of entrepreneurial ventures to investors is critically important. The entrepreneur's business proposition and... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Gender

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27 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 27

U.S., and an experimental exercise) that are consistent with the model. Working PapersWhen Performance Trumps Gender Bias: Joint versus Separate Evaluation Authors:Iris Bohnet, Alexandra van Geen, and Max H. Bazerman Abstract We examine... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

December 2019 (Revised December 2021)
Case

Negotiating for Equal Pay: The U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (A)

By: Christine Exley, John Beshears, Manuela Collis and Davis Heniford

In 2019, members of the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (WNT) filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation. The case describes the history of the WNT's quest for equal pay leading up to this event. View Details

Keywords: Equal Pay; Negotiation; Compensation and Benefits; Equality and Inequality; Gender; Prejudice and Bias; Negotiation Tactics; Corporate Governance; Lawsuits and Litigation; Sports; Sports Industry; United States

Educators

September 2020 (Revised February 2024)
Teaching Note

Artea (A), (B), (C), and (D): Designing Targeting Strategies

By: Eva Ascarza and Ayelet Israeli

Teaching Note for HBS No. 521-021,521-022,521-037,521-043. This collection of exercises aims to teach students about 1)Targeting Policies; and 2)Algorithmic bias in marketing—implications, causes, and possible solutions. Part (A) focuses on A/B testing analysis and... View Details

Keywords: Targeted Advertising; Targeting; Race; Gender; Diversity; Marketing; Customer Relationship Management; Prejudice and Bias; Analytics and Data Science; Retail Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Technology Industry; United States

18 Jun 2012
Research & Ideas

Better by the Bunch: Evaluating Job Candidates in Groups

New research suggests that organizations wishing to avoid gender stereotyping in the hiring or promotion process-and employ the most productive person instead—should evaluate job candidates as a group, rather than one at a time. “The... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish

08 Nov 2018
Working Paper Summaries

When Harry Fired Sally: The Double Standard in Punishing Misconduct

Keywords: by Mark Egan, Gregor Matvos, and Amit Seru; Financial Services

March 2020 (Revised August 2020)
Case

Culture at Google

By: Nien-hê Hsieh, Amy Klopfenstein and Sarah Mehta

Beginning in 2017, technology (tech) company Google faced a series of employee-relations issues that threatened its unique culture of innovation and open communication. Issues included protests surrounding Google’s contracts with the U.S. government, restrictions of... View Details

Educators

December 2014
Article

Rethink What You 'Know' about High-Achieving Women

By: Robin Ely, Pamela Stone and Colleen Ammerman

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the admission of women to Harvard Business School's MBA program, the authors, who have spent more than 20 years studying professional women, set out to learn what HBS graduates had to say about work and family and how their... View Details

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2010
Chapter

Women and Leadership: Defining the Challenges

By: Robin J. Ely and Deborah L. Rhode

We use the experience of Carly Fiorina as an introduction to the continued challenges faced by women in top leadership roles. Although Fiorina, on becoming CEO of Hewlett Packard in 1999, asserted that "there is not a glass ceiling," her memoir eight years later... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Leadership; Perception; Behavior; Attitudes; Gender

2021
Working Paper

Bollywood, Skin Color and Sexism: The Role of the Film Industry in Emboldening and Contesting Stereotypes in India after Independence

By: Sudev Sheth, Geoffrey Jones and Morgan Spencer

This working paper examines the social impact of the film industry in India during the first four decades after Indian Independence in 1947. It shows that Bollywood, the mainstream cinema in India and the counterpart in scale to Hollywood in the United States, shared... View Details

Keywords: Film Industry; Bollywood; Tamil Cinema; Male Gaze; Social Impact; Stereotypes; Oral History; Film Entertainment; Gender; Race; Personal Characteristics; Prejudice and Bias; Business History; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; India

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July 2020
Teaching Plan

Girls Who Code

By: Brian Trelstad and Amy Klopfenstein

This teaching plan serves as a supplement to HBS Case No. 320-055, “Girls Who Code.” Founded 2012 by former lawyer Reshma Saujani, Girls Who Code (GWC) offered coding education programs to middle- and high school-aged girls. The organization also sought to alter... View Details