“Communal” Language on Women’s Resumes May Be Preventing Their Success in Male-Dominated Fields

According to new research published in the Journal of Business and Psychology, specific language on women’s resumes may be preventing them from securing jobs in male-dominated fields. The research team consisted of scholars from the University of Houston, Davidson College in North Carolina, the University of Texas, and Rice University in Houston.

The study was conducted in two phases. First, the authors reviewed more than 2,500 resumes posted on Indeed.com to determine if there were differences between men and women’s use of agentic and communal language. Agentic language includes words associated with male stereotypes, such as assertive and confident, whereas communal language includes terms associated with women stereotypes, such as helpful and interpersonal. Regardless of the position they applied to, women used more communal language on their resumes than men. No differences were found between men and women’s use of agentic terminology.

In the study’s second phase, the authors asked over 300 participants to review a sample of fictional resumes that reflected the same frequency of communal and agentic language they found in their initial analysis. Half of the participants were asked how likely they were to hire the hypothetical job candidate for a human resource position, while the other half were asked how likely they would hire the candidate for an information technology role.

The authors found that women who used communal language were less likely to secure the position in information technology, a historically male-dominated field. However, men who used communal language were not more or less likely to receive a positive evaluation.