Dr. Cindy Suurd Ralph is an Assistant Professor in the Military Psychology and Leadership Department at RMC. Her current research interests are in Leadership, Allyship and Organizational Culture Change.
Dr. Adelheid Nicol is a full professor in the Military Psychology and Leadership Department at RMC. Her research focuses on prejudice and constructs related to prejudice. Dr. Nicol’s research is with both civilian and military samples.
The article by Moser and Branscombe (2021) is an exemplar of the research examining how men, in a predominantly male work environment, can play an important role in supporting their female colleagues. Their work on male allies highlights a mechanism by which men within the CAF can actively engage in changing their work environments to be more inclusive of women. In doing so, they can effectively align their behaviour with the CAF direction regarding leadership, culture change, and diversity.Footnote 1 Both Moser and Branscombe are in the Department of Psychology at the University of Kansas. Moser is a PhD candidate, while Dr. Branscombe is a distinguished professor in the areas of intergroup relations, prejudice, and discrimination, has over 200 publications, and has been cited over 35,000 times, according to Google Scholar.
Women perform better when there is equal gender representation in the work environment than when they are far outnumbered.Footnote 2,Footnote 3,Footnote 4,Footnote 5 In a gender-balanced work environment, women do not define themselves according to their gender.Footnote 2 Individuals have numerous identities that revolve around their work, social, and personal lives. Therefore, individuals’ identities could centre on their sexuality, gender, occupation, relationship status, parenthood, or community. When a group is underrepresented, their minority identity is highlighted.Footnote 2 The identity (in this case being a woman) then becomes salient and a source of vulnerability, as the person feels alone, distinct, and pressured to outperform their male counterparts and ultimately experiences decreased job satisfaction.Footnote 2
Certainly, women can act as role models to other women. Indeed, positive female and minority group role models attract more women into male-dominated work environments, provide a sense of gender identity protection, and reduce turnover.Footnote 2 Unfortunately, some fields (like Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) industries or the military) have a predominantly male workforce, with fewer available role models who are female or who are from other stigmatized identities.Footnote 2
Given the predominance of men in certain work environments, researchers have shifted their attention towards male allyship. Allies are those who support underrepresented and marginalized groups in the workforce.Footnote 6 Male allies, as opposed to female allies, are not typically subjected to judgement when addressing sexist behaviour or promoting gender equality at work.Footnote 2 Research has shown that male allies are perceived to be more legitimate when confronting sexism and face less backlash because of their interventions.Footnote 2 When male allies speak up, individuals tend to concentrate more on the sexist act than on the characteristics of the confronter.Footnote 2
What do male allies do for women? Numerous qualities help define a male ally. These include: a) not treating the person differently because of their gender (seeing them as a person, treating them as equals), b) sharing similar experiences or interests, c) creating connection, interest, being respectful and non-judgemental, d) generating suggestions to problems, e) acknowledging the gender gaps and prejudices that exist, f) actively learning about gender differences, g) reacting to other men engaging in discriminatory behaviours, h) being a friend, i) providing leadership development opportunities, j) recognizing the effort women put into their own work and that of their team’s, and k) looking towards the future of the organization and the need for leadership diversity.Footnote 7,Footnote 8
Moser and Branscombe’s (2021) research focused on STEM fields. STEM fields share similarities with the military work context in that they are typically male-dominated work environments that struggle to attract and retain women (for whom the role is considered non-traditional) and where sexual harassment is a concern.Footnote 9,Footnote 10,Footnote 11 Male-dominated organizations seeking to increase female retention and aiming to be more inclusive towards marginalized groups may focus on helping women feel a sense of belonging and of being valued. To achieve these aims, maximizing existing resources (men), means that organizations may wish to generate opportunities where men can act as allies.
Moser and Branscombe (2021) developed three studies, two of those were experimental (laboratory) studies designed to examine whether male allyship influenced feelings of isolation for women and feelings of support from coworkers. They found that in an environment of female underrepresentation and no male ally, women anticipated feeling less supported and more isolated (there was no effect of male allyship when represented workplaces were gender-balanced). In a third study looking at women with STEM backgrounds, they found that a male ally increased perceptions of support and respect from coworkers, identity safety (i.e., feelings of belonging and safety with that group, and desire to join the groupFootnote 12), and increased perceptions that gender equality is the norm and supported, as well as the feeling that women will not be isolated or experience hostility. Female allies were also useful, as participants perceived increased support and respect from coworkers, but the effect was not as robust as when the ally was male. Furthermore, a female ally did not increase perceptions of identity safety or that gender equality was seen as normative. This may indicate that female champions and allies are important but not sufficient to transform the workplace and that members of the dominant group must act in support of change.
Moser and Branscombe (2021) also examined whether race of the male ally was important to self-identified White and Black women in their second study. They found that it did not make a difference to the women whether the ally was a White or Black man. The most important factor was the presence of the ally, not their race. This is encouraging for the CAF given the low numbers of individuals who self-identify as non-white (in 2018, 8.4% of the CAF identified as a visible minority).Footnote 13
Certainly, Moser and Branscombe’s (2021) work is not without limitations. All three studies were experiments and asked participants to respond to scenarios, this may or may not generalize to the real world. Also, it does not present the difficulties allies may experience when attempting to navigate the waters of inclusion in a very ‘masculine’ culture such as the military. Regardless, it presents some key findings that suggest a way forward.
This article could have important implications for recruiting and retention of CAF women. Despite a commitment from the CAF to increase their female representation to 25% by 2026Footnote 14, actual increases have not met established targets.Footnote 15 Indeed, women in the CAF are most often found in occupations accepted as more traditional for women (e.g., administration, food services and medical roles) where numbers of women and men are more balanced or where women serve in a pre-dominant role (e.g., 76.8% of nursing officers identify as female).Footnote 16,Footnote 17 This finding underscores the need for action within non-traditional roles for women. Increases in allyship within the CAF could increase female CAF members’ interest and their anticipation of belonging within the organization; particularly in non-traditional occupations.
Other research appears to support the conclusions by Moser and Branscombe (2021), suggesting that male allies in a male-dominated environment are important to their female colleagues.Footnote 18,Footnote 19 Actively informing and supporting male allies in the CAF through allyship programsFootnote 20 could promote culture change in the CAF by fostering an environment that supports women and confronts sexism and inequality. Programs that put this into practice need to be monitored and assessed. This is important from both women’s and men’s perspectives. Furthermore, leadership to support inclusivity and change is necessary; when their leaders are open to ideas and input, male followers are more apt to recognize and confront sexism within the workplace.Footnote 21
Increasing diversity and inclusion in work environments improves strategic decisions and problem solving as well as increasing resilience and ability to adapt to change.Footnote 22 The paper by Moser and Branscombe (2021) highlights the important role that men play in effecting organizational change. Gaining support from men and having men actively involved in supporting women, in a male-dominated environment, is key to changing an organization’s culture.Footnote 19