A study examining the relationship between an exclusive focus on female employees in gender diversity policies and male employees’ resistance towards gender diversity policies

Abstract

Having a gender diverse workforce has many benefits for organizations. Therefore, organizations invest heavily in gender diversity policies. However, such policies turn out to be generally ineffective because they frequently only target female employees and evoke resistance among male employees. The present research investigates how the perception of having access and benefits with regard to gender diversity policies affects male resistance towards gender diversity initiatives. Male participants (N = 114), working in various organizations with a gender diversity policy, completed a survey that measured to what extent they perceived access, benefits, threat, fairness and resistance with regard to their organization’s gender diversity policy. Results showed that perceived access to the organization’s gender diversity policy was negatively related to male resistance towards this policy. In addition, this relationship was partially mediated by realistic threat. These findings underline the importance of an additional focus on male employees in organizational gender diversity policies.