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A Woman’s Place and a Man’s Duty: How Gender Role Incongruence in One’s Family Life Can Result in Home-Related Spillover Discrimination at Work

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate how gender role incongruence in terms of women being primary wage earners and males being secondary wage earners in their families could affect them at work. Using an experimental design and a sample of 306 college students, I explored how females who are the primary wage earners in their families and males who are the secondary wage earners are perceived and evaluated in a work setting. I proposed, and found, that female primary wage earners are seen as the least overqualified and are given lower reward recommendations than equally qualified male peers (i.e., peers with exactly the same credentials and job performance). Male secondary wage earners are seen as being the most overqualified and are given higher reward recommendations than equally qualified female peers. Results demonstrate how the lack of fit model, which has been shown to penalize women who succeed in traditionally masculine domains (Dipboye, Acad Manag Rev 10:16–127, 1985; Heilman, Res Organ Behav 5:269–298, 1983, J Soc Issues 57:657–674, 2001), can be applied to situations where gender-incongruent behavior exists in the form of women being primary wage earners in their families. I refer to this phenomenon as “home-related spillover discrimination,” named after the spillover effects that derive from societal expectations that are transferred into employment situations (Nieva and Gutek, Acad Manag Rev 5:267–276, 1980). The practical implication of this finding is that this may present a new form of sex discrimination against women that has not yet been considered. This is the first study to show how violating stereotypical roles in terms of family wage earner status can influence outcomes in work settings.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Richard Woodman for his support and feedback when I began this work as a first-year doctoral student in his research methods seminar. I would also like to thank Dora Delgado, Fernanda Garcia, and David Hill for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Management and HR Department, The University of Wisconsin - Madison, 975 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    María del Carmen Triana

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Correspondence to María del Carmen Triana.

Appendix

Appendix

The Scenario

The ABC Corporation, based in Dallas, TX, has just completed its annual review process whereby all of its employees receive their yearly performance reviews. There are several Corporate Training Managers within the Human Resources Training Division who supervise training teams. The average age of the Corporate Training Managers is 38 years, and 53% of the Corporate Training Managers are male and 47% are female. Below are the names of ten of the Corporate Training Managers. You are being asked to rate one of them.

  • Michael Edwards

  • Nathan Adams

  • Karen Parker

  • Pat Hill

  • Sam Jenkins

  • John Stevens

  • Jessica Johnson

  • Nancy Smith

  • David Jones

  • Andrea Washington

Please rate the following employee:

Name

Michael Edwards/Jessica Johnson

Birth Place

San Antonio, Texas

College Attended

Texas Tech University

Degree

BS in Human Resources

GPA

3.8

Position at ABC

Corporate Training Manager

Employees Managed

5

Tenure at ABC

5 years

Total Compensation

$100,000 per year, or $50,000 per year

Personal

Michael/Jessica is married and has two children. He/she enjoys playing tennis with his/her family on the weekend. He/she is the primary/secondary wage earner in the family. Together, he/she and his/her wife/husband make $150,000 per year. The family lives in an upper middle class neighborhood in the Dallas area.

Responsibilities and task requirements for the Corporate Training Manager are as follows:

  • Supervises a unit within Human Resources, which provides skill training to employees who seek to upgrade their positions within the company.

  • Helps inform employees about job advancement opportunities through individual appointments and in-house workshops, and refers them to professionals who can aid them in develo** long-term career goals.

  • Needs to be a good communicator and knowledgeable about job and career planning.

Michael/Jessica has recently undergone the company-wide annual performance review and received consistently high evaluations based on number of employees serviced, quality of workshops offered, and satisfaction ratings from employees serviced. He/she has been designated as a “stellar performer.” His/her performance is in the top 5% of all employees at his/her level.

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Triana, M.d.C. A Woman’s Place and a Man’s Duty: How Gender Role Incongruence in One’s Family Life Can Result in Home-Related Spillover Discrimination at Work. J Bus Psychol 26, 71–86 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-010-9182-5

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