Gender Discrimination, Gender Bias and now ... Gender Fatigue?

Perhaps this writer is little behind, until recently I’d never heard of “Gender Fatigue.” Being the curious person that I am, I had to find out what this gender fatigue was. Google is a beautiful thing. Where would we be without Google? Probably blissfully unaware of nauseating terms like, “gender fatigue.” Nonetheless, I found the source of this new label, a study conducted by Elisabeth Kelan, Ph.D., from King’s College London “Gender Fatigue: The Ideological Dilemma of Gender Neutrality and Discrimination in Organizations,” published in the 2010 Canadian Journal of Administrative Science.

Dr. Kelan found that workers acknowledge gender discrimination is possible in modern organizations, but at the same time maintain their workplaces to be gender neutral. Dr. Kelan notes, “Gender fatigue is caused by workers not acknowledging that bias against women occurs. The problem with gender fatigue is that it prohibits productive discussion regarding inequalities between men and women, making gender bias difficult to address. Future studies should explore what happens to gender fatigue over time and whether practical strategies can be developed to shape the way in which people in organizations speak about gender.” The study conducted in 2003-2004, included 26 men and women from two information communication technology companies. Basically what Dr. Kelan’s study states is that gender fatigue happens when gender bias is not acknowledged. This is fantastic. We women can now call our bosses and let them know that we won’t be into work today because we’re suffering from gender fatigue.

Women in the Labor Force: A Databook 2009 Edition published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics cites, that in 2008 women accounted for 51% of all persons employed in management, professional, and related occupations, somewhat more than their share of total employment at 47%. Further research from the World Economic Forum’s 2009 Gender Gap Report states, “No country in the world has yet managed to eliminate the gender gap.” But the report also states, “Out of the 115 countries covered in the report since 2006, more than two-thirds have posted gains in overall index scores, indicating that the world in general has made progress towards equality between men and women.”

Examining statistics from all three studies can certainly leave one very confused. We can acknowledge that discrimination of every type exists in the workplace but perhaps we should hold-off on using yet another label that divides the genders and focus our energies upon avenues to close the gender gap.