How We Describe Male and Female Job Applicants Differently

The words we use to describe men versus women differ in significant ways that can affect their careers. This starts early on — as girls who are called “bossy” are viewed negatively in ways that boys are not — and continues into adulthood — where the description of being “ambitious” is an insult for women but not for men. The impact words can have is accentuated in the workplace, where people are often asked to recommend, select, and endorse certain employees. Research finds that people (both men and women) choose to use different sets of words to describe male versus female applicants; that these word choices result in more negative evaluations of female than male applicants; and that men and women not only describe others differently but also represent themselves, as job applicants, differently.