Working around men may make women feel worse about mistakes, study finds

We all make them, and we all make them at work: Mistakes on the job happen regardless of line of work, experience or gender. How employees feel about them and how they are perceived by others, however, differs. Women are more likely than men to perceive mistakes negatively—but this depends on whom they share the office with, a new study in Frontiers in Organizational Psychology has shown.

“On paper, a mistake carries the same consequences whoever makes it, and that is exactly what we found. But formal rules aren’t culture,” said lead author Dr. Grace Lordan at the London School of Economics.

“In teams that are three-quarters or more male, women told us they feel less comfortable admitting a mistake and less confident it will be treated as something to learn from. Where women are in the majority, that gap vanishes.”

Women at work

For their study, the team surveyed employees about how comfortable they would be admitting mistakes, how likely they were to believe they’d be penalized for making them and whether they’d consider them learning opportunities. More than 1,400 employees in the U.K. financial services sector participated. While this sector is male-dominated, the study population was made up of 81% women.

The results showed two consistent patterns: Being a woman was associated with seeing mistakes more negatively, as was being in a male-dominated work setting, regardless of gender.

“Extremely male-heavy, high-pressure teams may foster a general climate of fear or perfectionism and a ‘no mistakes’ norm,” said Lordan.

Further, men reported more positive views of mistakes across all measures than women, who felt less comfortable admitting mistakes, were more likely to think they’d be punished for them and were less inclined to consider them learning opportunities. In more male-dominated workplaces, these trends sharpened further.

“In teams where more than three quarters were men, women report less comfort: 5.46 vs. 5.94 for men in the same settings on a seven-point scale. Women were also less likely to see mistakes as learning opportunities (4.20 vs. 4.54),” Lordan pointed out. “In low-male-share environments, women’s views are as positive as men’s or slightly better.”

Men’s perceptions, on the other hand, varied very little depending on their workplace’s gender composition.

Err to learn

The one score where the team did not find a gender difference was the expectation of penalization. In comparable roles and settings, women didn’t expect to be punished more than men in either female- or male-heavy workplaces. This could be due to how respondents interpreted the term “penalization,” which might have evoked formal consequences, for example, a note on the record or a career setback.

Fear of indirect penalties, however, might be more widespread among women, said the team.

“Comfort and learning tap informal, cultural dimensions, which is where bias tends to show up: being seen as less competent, having the mistake held against you in unwritten ways,” said Lordan. “Women may feel on ‘thinner ice’ psychologically even with the same consequences on paper.”

The authors pointed out that this might not only affect employees and teams but also have negative repercussions throughout companies.

“Learning from failure is where innovation comes from. If women feel less free to admit mistakes, the organization doesn’t just lose their confidence; it loses the lessons,” said Lordan. “The fix isn’t expensive. Leaders, and especially men leading male-heavy teams, can change the climate simply by being open about their own mistakes.”

The authors also suggest peer groups for women, inside and outside their immediate teams, that offer safe spaces to discuss mistakes. Excessive double-checking or avoiding “risky” projects, however, can stunt career growth.

Because of the gender imbalance in the sample, the authors said that their results cannot be readily generalized. The findings mostly apply to high-pressure, low-tolerance fields but may extend to tech, engineering and some medical specialties, other research suggests. The data were also based on self-reports about a hypothetical scenario that might have been imagined differently by each participant.

“Over time, freedom to fail could contribute to gaps in expertise, confidence and advancement, caused by unequal opportunity to learn, not ability,” concluded Lordan. “A more inclusive error culture benefits everyone.”

Who’s behind this story?

Sadie Harley

BSc Life Sciences & Ecology. Microbiology lab background with pharmaceutical news experience in oil, gas, and renewable industries.

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Robert Egan

Bachelor’s in mathematical biology, Master’s in creative writing. Well-traveled with unique perspectives on science and language.

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