Asymmetrical demography effects on psychological climate for gender diversity: Differential effects of leader gender and work unit gender composition among Swedish doctors

Abstract

This research examined the association between gender composition of the work context and perceived reward and social outcomes for women and men. A nationally representative sample of 594 male and 430 female Swedish medical doctors responded to a survey asking them to report the gender composition of their medical unit, the gender of their immediate supervisors, and the gender of the head of their work organizations. Participants also responded to previously validated measures of perceived fairness, discrimination, organizational support, exclusion, and gender harassment. Findings indicated that: 1) women who worked in medical units with a larger percentage of men reported more gender harassment; 2) women who had a male supervisor reported less organizational support; and 3) women who worked in an organization with a male head reported more gender discrimination. For men, gender composition was unrelated to any of the outcome measures.