Women have better results from remote career training programs when they learn alongside other women, according to a new study led by Julia Melin, assistant professor of business administration in the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.
For their study, the authors used a large online career training platform that offers programs that help participants prepare for exams to obtain a professional certification. Over 18 months, the authors followed nearly 4,600 participants who were randomly assigned to same-gender or mixed-gender groups.
Compared to women who participated in mixed-gender groups, women assigned to all-women groups were 7 percentage points more likely to complete their training on time, 5 percentage points more likely to earn professional certification, and 12 percentage points more likely to secure in-field employment within one year of their program start date. Notably, the all-men groups did not have the same advantages.
When examining the groups’ communication patterns, the research team found that participants in all-women cohorts were more likely to disclose details about their personal lives and connect with each other regarding their shared identities as mothers, daughters, wives, and caregivers. They also used more supportive language and were more likely to offer advice to and share resources with their peers.
“The presence of men in those groups was changing the way that women were acting with each other,” said co-author Tiantian Yang, assistant professor of management at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. “In a remote environment, everybody is new and there is a lack of trust. The question is, what can create that trust? In our study, shared gender identity is a key toward building trust.”
In addition to Dr. Melin and Dr. Yang, the study was authored by Sofoklis Goulas, an associate research scholar and lecturer at Yale University.