Gendered Word Choice in Job Postings

professional woman

If the news of the new laws Obama plans to sign into effect that will encourage equal pay for women have you thinking of looking for a new gig, here are some things you might want to know. Before you hit LinkedIn, read this piece to make sure you’re not limiting your opportunities before you begin. Because, as it turns out, the mere language the post is written in may impact if you decide to apply – if you are a woman, that is. Women were less likely to apply for positions if the post was written using certain words that call masculine jobs to mind. Words including assertive, independent, aggressive, and determined were found to make women less likely to apply. Whereas words like dedicated, responsible, and conscientious drew more female applicants. Take note before trolling the new postings to avoid being discouraged from applying by the adjectives in play.

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s