Men feel a pressure to conform to the traditional gender norms; often they’ve been programmed to do so. These can include hiding sadness, being tough, showing no fear, expressing no pain, and more. This norm is called hegemonic masculinity, and it can lead men to suffer in silence.

We found that firms with a high degree of internationalization (measured as the percentage of firm revenues from international operations) have fewer women in management. When firms are dependent on foreign operations for their survival, and when foreign countries express prejudices when interacting with women, employers may not see value in hiring and promoting women and deploying them abroad. The gender biases in certain foreign countries may explain why women are less likely to be sent overseas on international assignments. In other words, when women are not considered to be a critical resource to a firm, they are less likely to be promoted. This, in turn, limits women’s advancement into senior management, because they often require international experience as a skill set necessary for leadership roles.

Overall, the response that speaking players had to the gender of their teammate depended, to some extent, on their personal performance. Those men who were doing better at the game were more positive towards the women, while those who were doing worse were more negative towards them, generally speaking.