Women working in teams where men make up three-quarters or more of the group report less comfort admitting a professional error and less confidence that the experience will lead to learning, according to a study led by the London School of Economics and published in Frontiers in Organizational Psychology. In workplaces where women are the majority, that distrust disappears, said Grace Lordan, the study's lead author.
The research team interviewed more than 1,400 professionals in London's financial sector, 81% of whom were women. The study identified two consistent patterns: being a woman in a male-dominated environment was associated with a more negative perception of mistakes, while men reported a more positive view of failures across all dimensions analyzed.
Women said they felt less comfortable admitting errors and were less inclined to see them as opportunities to learn. According to the research, these differences become more pronounced as male representation in the workplace increases. In teams where more than three-quarters of members were men, women reported lower levels of comfort than men in the same conditions and were less likely to view errors as learning opportunities.
In environments with a low proportion of men, women's views were as positive as men's, or slightly more positive. Men's perceptions, by contrast, varied little regardless of workplace composition.
The study found no gender difference in expectations of formal sanctions: both men and women believed they would face the same formal consequences for an equivalent error. The fact that women felt more uncomfortable and less confident about learning from their mistakes, even while expecting the same formal punishments as men, suggested the gender difference was psychological, according to the research. Women felt more vulnerable in terms of informal reputation and feared that admitting an error could raise questions about their competence or create implicit stigmas affecting their professional status. Lordan said women feared being seen as less competent and that the mistake would be used against them in unwritten ways.
The study warned that a lack of psychological safety among women in predominantly male workplaces can have negative consequences for the entire organization. Lordan said learning from mistakes is the basis of innovation, and that if women feel less free to admit errors, the organization loses not only trust but also valuable lessons.
To support employees and reduce the negative perception of errors, the study suggested that team leaders, especially men who manage mostly male groups, help change the workplace environment by demonstrating transparency about their own mistakes. It also recommended that companies create mentoring networks and support spaces where women can discuss professional failures with confidence and without fear of judgment.
Sources: G1.