Untying Double Binds

Marianne Cooper, PhD

Workshop Deliverables

• Demystify and explain the dynamics that

produce double binds

• Provide strategies for navigating the

challenges double binds create

Clayman Institute for Gender Research

Underrepresentation of women in leadership the United States

• Approximately 4.5% of the Fortune 500 CEOs are women

• Women hold 14% of executive officer positions

• Women hold 18% of elected congressional offices

• Women hold 17.2% of research university presidencies

• Women of color are more underrepresented

© Shelley Correll 2014. All rights reserved.

Underrepresentation of women in leadership the United States

• Women make up 19% of Congress

• Women hold 5% of CEO roles among S&P 500

companies

• Women hold 25% of Executive roles among S&P

500 companies

Gender stereotypes impact the way we

perceive, evaluate, and interact with others

Gender stereotypes can shape how we as

individuals think, feel, and behave

Boys and Girls

Boys vs. Girls

Early Roots

• Overestimating, underestimating skills and

abilities

• Higher expectations, lower expectations

• Differences in attitudes towards risk and

competition

Internal Barriers

Think Leader, Think Male

Walking on a Tightrope

Damned if you do,

damned if you don’t

Double bind n (1) A psychological impasse

created when contradictory demands are made of

an individual...so that no matter which directive is

followed, the response will be construed as

incorrect. (2) A situation in which a person must

choose between equally unsatisfactory

alternatives; a punishing and inescapable

dilemma.

(The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. (Boston, MA: Houghton

Mifflin, 2000) – adapted for Catalyst report 2007)

Double Bind

1. Too Nice/Not Nice Enough

2. Too Modest/Too Proud

3. Good Worker/Bad Mother (or Good

Mother/Bad Work)

Three Double Binds

Strategies - Individual

Experiment with “Gender Judo”

• In what you do and say

• Practice using a “strategic no”

• In how you say it

• Master the strategic use of body language

(Williams 2014; Gruenfeld 2013)

Strategies - Individual

Join forces with others

• Create a “posse” to promote each other’s

accomplishments

• Vouch for the competence of women leaders

• In introductions, performance evaluations,

Linkedin endorsements

(Williams 2014; Correll 2013)

Strategies - Individual

Counter assumptions with evidence

• Make your work and accomplishments visible

• Be explicit about your career goals

Strategies - Individual

Strategies - Organizational

Use clear, appropriate, and consistent criteria

• Ask yourself and others: Would we say thing if she

was a man?

• Watch out for the tendency to evaluate women based

on personality vs. men on skill/ability

Strategies - Organizational

Challenge the idea that “taking-care” and “taking-charge”

are mutually exclusive

• Distribute and reward “office housework”

• Applaud and reward a variety of leadership styles

Strategies - Organizational

Challenge the “ideal worker norm” that pits family against

work

• Focus less on face time, more on results

• Resist the norm of extreme availability

Strategies - Organizational

Step #1: By Yourself

• Identify the Double Binds in your life. Where do you feel

this tension?

• What strategies might you be able to use to navigate or

reduce these challenges? For yourself? For your team?

For your organization?

Workshop – Untying Double Binds

Strategies – Individual

• Experiment with “Gender Judo”

• Join forces with others

• Counter assumptions with evidence

Strategies – Organizational

• Use clear, appropriate, and consistent criteria

• Challenge the idea that “taking-care” and “taking-

charge” are mutually exclusive

• Challenge the “ideal worker norm” that pits family

against work

Workshop – Untying Double Binds

Step #1: By Yourself

• Identify the Double Binds in your life. Where do you feel

this tension?

• What strategies might you be able to use to navigate or

reduce these challenges? For yourself? For your team?

For your organization?

Step #2: With a Partner

• Share your experience and brainstorm strategies

Workshop – Untying Double Binds

Step #1: By Yourself

• Identify the Double Binds in your life. Where do you feel

this tension?

• What strategies might you be able to use to navigate or

reduce these challenges? For yourself? For your team?

For your organization?

Step #2: With a Partner

• Share your experience and brainstorm strategies

Step #3: With your Table

• Everyone share – One Action you will take tomorrow

Workshop – Untying Double Binds

Share Outs

“ ‘Tempered radicals’ are people who want to succeed in

their organizations yet want to live by their values or

identities, even if they are somehow at odds with the

dominant culture of their organization…They want to rock

the boat, and they want to stay in it.”

(Meyerson 2003, xi)

Rocking the Boat, While Not Falling Out

Be a Tempered Radical

and

Create a More Equal World