25/03/2025
💬 DEIAB Tip: The Sneakiest Bias in Your Culture & Systems
This month I was supposed to present to a large company regarding femmephobia in the workplace on behalf of The Femish Organization , an invite back to share this information for a third time. However, this company is a federal contractor and so this time, the program was canceled due to "shifting landscapes" and "extra scrutiny" regarding content presented to employees. Prior to the cancellation, I was even asked not to use the term "intersectional".
So instead, here is a snippet of the sneakiest bias in society and the workplace: femmephobia—the bias against traits, behaviors, or people perceived as “feminine.” And let’s be clear: this shows up at every level of business, from employee evaluations to company outings.
📚 A study titled “See feminine – Think incompetent?” found that women wearing feminine outfits (compared to gender neutral outfits) were rated as less competent in computer-related tasks—regardless of their actual skills. The bias was instant, unconscious, and widespread.¹
This research confirms what many have experienced: when someone looks or acts feminine, people often assume they’re less capable—especially in traditionally masculine domains like tech, finance, or leadership.
👀 Signs your workplace may be perpetuating femmephobia:
👉 Favoring “assertive” communication over emotional intelligence or collaboration
👉 Devaluing soft skills like empathy, listening, and community-building
👉 Rewarding risk-taking but penalizing caution or thoughtfulness
👉 Promoting people who fit a traditionally masculine leadership mold
👉 Planning “bonding” activities (like golf or whiskey tastings) that exclude employees who don’t align with those norms
👉 Dismissing roles like HR, DEI, or admin as less important to company success
This culture doesn’t just harm women, femmes, and nonbinary folks—it leads to a workplace where everyone feels pressured to perform a narrow version of “professionalism.” It breeds hypervigilance, reduces psychological safety, and blocks inclusion at its core.
💡 Want to dismantle femmephobia? Start here:
👍 Name and value emotional intelligence as a leadership skill
👍 Stop calling soft skills “soft”—they’re strategic and essential
👍 Audit your promotion, evaluation, and recognition systems for coded bias
👍 Diversify what leadership looks and sounds like
👍 Design inclusive team-building and social spaces
DEIAB work means honoring a full spectrum of identities and ways of being.
Interested in hearing more about this or want to show your employees you are still dedicated to DEIAB initiatives? Happy to chat.
¹ Fleischmann, A., Sieverding, M., Hespenheide, U., Weiß, M., & Koch, S.C. (2016). See feminine – Think incompetent? The effects of a feminine outfit on the evaluation of women's computer competence.
