Is the American myth of rugged individualism costing women
advancement in the workplace? Nicole Stephens, an assistant
professor of management and organizations at the Kellogg School
of Management, and Cynthia S. Levine, a doctoral student at
Stanford University, argue that because Americans believe that
most people’s behavior comes from “personal choice,” they fail
to see how real and persistent workplace barriers—including lack
of flexibility, unaffordable child care and gender
stereotypes—weigh on women’s successes. In a pair of studies,
the research team looked at stay-at-home mothers’ explanations
of why they left the workforce: Those who viewed their
departures as personal choices were less likely to perceive
workplace discrimination when presented with real statistics
about gender inequality in the fields of business, politics, law
and science. Stephens and Levine also measured the impact of
message posters on participants’ responses to a survey about
social issues: Students who saw a poster that said,