Women's and Men's Support for Gender Equality Policies in Organizations: From Belief in Gender Discrimination to Perceived Organizational Hypocrisy

Abstract

Belief in gender discrimination is a key predictor of employees’ attitudes toward gender equality policies in organizations. We hypothesized that this belief increases men's support for gender equality policies but decreases women's support due to the perception of organizational hypocrisy. Across three studies—two correlational (N = 420; N = 669) and one experimental (N = 420)—we found evidence for a dual pathway: Among men, stronger belief in gender discrimination was associated with greater support for gender equality policies; among women, the same belief was associated with increased perception of organizational hypocrisy, which, in turn, reduced their support. These findings highlight the importance of fostering men's awareness of gender discrimination while ensuring that organizational efforts are perceived as authentic to maintain women's support.