Men who work for female principals are more likely to leave

Dive Brief:

Male teachers in public school systems are 12% more likely to leave if the principal is a women than if the principal is a man, according to new research from the University of Virginia and Northwestern University.
When these men transfer to different schools, they are more likely to work at schools with male principals than institutions with female principals. Research results come from a 40-year study measuring female principals' effect on turnover in New York public schools.
Results from the research lines up with an earlier Pew Research Center study, which showed that women in male-dominated work environments have a harder time advancing in their careers. The women in this study also reported being less likely to get fair treatment and more likely to experience gender discrimination than men.

Dive Insight:

As this study found, women in education experience some of the same bias as women in the business and military arenas. And while women's choices may add to the "glass ceiling" effect, research from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business noted, sex discrimination still exists outside that.

Opposition to women in leadership roles harms women's chances for advancement, as this study highlighted. Since bad bosses are among the top reasons employees quit their jobs, women in charge could end up unfairly shouldering much of the blame for an organization's turnover rates — thus worsening rates of female leadership.

Language often contributes to bias against women in the workplace when their credentials are examined. Resumes, references and letters of recommendation can describe women in terms that make them appear less qualified than men. For example, words that portray women as nice and easy to get along with, instead of focusing on their skills and abilities to perform a job, can keep them from positions for which they are highly qualified.

Companies that have committed to removing gender bias and barriers to women's advancement from the workplace generally use multiple tactics, such as purging documents of sexist language, providing phase-return-to work programs to help new mothers' maternity leave transitions, and ensuring that women's pay is on par with that of men in similar jobs.