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- Speaking on Joe Rogan’s podcast, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg criticised the corporate world as “culturally neutered” and called for more “masculine energy,” praising a culture that celebrates aggression.
- However, new research by WZB Berlin Social Science Center and the University of Cologne suggests that gender dynamics in the workplace are already skewed.
- The study found that when companies prioritise gender equality initiatives, women’s success is less likely to be seen as fair or attributed to intelligence and effort.
Speaking on Joe Rogan’s podcast last week, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg said the corporate world has become ‘culturally neutered’ and ‘emasculated’. He revealed he wants more ‘masculine energy’ in the workplace.
“I think having a culture that celebrates the aggression a bit more has its own merits that are really positive,” he said.
This comes at a time when male violence towards women is at an all-time high globally, and women’s rights are increasingly under threat.
The world watched with horror and awe as Gisèle Pelicot stood tall when she accused her husband and 49 other men of rape and sexual assault: all of whom were found guilty. Over in the US, around half of states have banned or limited abortion access since the court repealed the 1973 Roe v Wade ruling. The election of Donald Trump coincided with the rise of ‘your body, my choice’ chants on ‘free speech’ platforms like X. In Afghanistan, the Taliban has banned women from speaking in public, and banned windows that overlook places ‘usually used by women’.
These are just a few of the many similar stories that have made headlines recently – each as shocking as the next.
And it’s important to view recent corporate decisions in context too. The mass rolling back of DEI policies of large US firms like Amazon, Walmart and McDonalds, combined with the rise of so-called ‘free speech’ on social media – while framed as beneficial for democracy – also gives hateful comments a platform that might otherwise not have existed.
Women, it seems, face increasing challenges when it comes to being seen, heard, valued and respected – both in society and at work.
What’s ‘fair’ about gender inequality?
In the same vein, new research by WZB Berlin Social Science Center and the University of Cologne has revealed that people view women’s and men’s professional success differently when organisations commit to gender equality initiatives.
The study, conducted by ISS researcher Paula Protsch together with Lena Hipp and Kristin Kelley, investigated whether or not corporate values such as equal opportunities or women’s advancement, changed how people view women’s and men’s success.
First, let’s check the stats. Women are less likely than men to be hired into entry-level roles, according to the Women in the Workplace 2024 report. Following this initial disadvantage, women are far less likely to attain their first promotion to a manager role. In 2018, for every 100 men who received their first promotion to manager in 2018, 79 women were promoted; in 2024, just 81 women were. This phenomenon is even worse for women of colour, who represent only seven percent of current C-suite positions—just a four-percentage-point increase since 2017.
And yet, they’re not less educated. According to the UK House of Commons, women are more likely to go to university than men and ‘have been for many years’. “After graduation, men are more likely to be in ‘highly skilled’ employment or further study just after graduation,” the research briefing writes. “Male graduate average earnings are around 9% higher than female earnings one year after graduation. This earnings gap grows substantially over their early careers and reaches 31 percent ten years after graduation.”
Of course, as we know, the gender pay gap is an incredibly complex issue that encompasses many factors. It’s not as simple as ‘educated’ or ‘not educated’. However, what we all can agree is that it is a systemic issue. One that, as companies told us for years, is improved by gender equality initiatives.
Indeed, companies with more female board members, achieve a much stronger level of overall performance, research from NEOMA Business School has revealed. Female directors’ presence, they found, significantly improved board efficiency. Similarly, Vienna University of Economics (WU) research showed that having more women in top positions has a positive effect on achieving sustainability goals.
Are women’s promotions deserved?
However, when companies prioritise women’s advancement or equal opportunities, women’s success is less likely to be seen as fair or attributed to intelligence and effort, revealed the research from WZB Berlin Social Science Center and the University of Cologne. In contrast, promotions of men are viewed as fairer when organisations emphasise performance principles, suggesting that intelligence is more decisive in their advancement.
The researchers used a survey in which the participants each read a short description of a recently promoted employee in a large company. The survey randomly varied whether this employee was a man or a woman and whether the company was committed to performance principles, women’s advancement, or equal opportunities. The scenarios were identical in all other respects.
“Our research found that the public believes that intelligence and effort play less of a role in women’s promotions in organisations that commit to women’s advancement,” says Protsch.
One glimpse of a silver lining, however, is that across all types of organisations, women’s professional success is increasingly attributed to their intelligence and effort, similar to men.
Presumably, respondents thought that women had to be smarter and harder-working than men to be promoted – commented the researchers.
The rise of feminine anger
In the midst of masculine energy, we feel the rise of feminine anger. In November of last year, thousands demonstrated across France protesting violence against women. Meanwhile, in the US, following Trump’s re-election, demonstrators carried posters and signs through city streets with slogans such as: “We won’t go back”. Similarly, the rise of the 4B movement – where women refuse to have relationships with men to protest their right to abortion being taken away – has gained traction on social media.
If Zuckerberg’s ‘masculine energy’ becomes more prominent in the workplace, don’t expect women to stay silent.
By Chloë Lane
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