Beth Livingston, an expert on gender differences and on work and family, examines high-powered women in the news – and how their perception affects workers in America. The assistant professor of Human Resources at Cornell University’s ILR School, discusses the impact of the “catty” label on perception of women in the workplace discussed in Sheryl Sandberg’s popular book, “Lean In”
Livingston says:
“Sandberg was quoted recently about the controversy surrounding her book: ‘everyone loves a fight – and they really love a catfight.’ When women debate it becomes a label, and reminds us how careful we need to be about words but also about how conflict is perceived between different genders. “How do we as HR specialists fundamentally manage people if we don’t understand the psychology behind the issue? Policies can be in place but that’s not being proactive. HR managers need to be trained to perceive but not label conflict in gendered ways.”
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