Despite women comprising roughly half of the global workforce, they remain underrepresented in executive roles. Various explanations for these gender differences have been documented, including unconscious bias, gender stereotypes, and greater domestic responsibilities. However, one less explored factor is women’s greater engagement in workplace helping behaviors, known as organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). These helping behaviors go beyond job requirements and can include assisting colleagues, making suggestions and managing the social environment. Although OCB benefit groups and organizations by enhancing performance and efficiency, they can come at a personal cost to employees.
Research indicates that women are expected to engage in more communal, time-consuming OCB than men. Women also receive more requests for help, are more frequently “volunteered” for low-promotability tasks, receive fewer rewards than men for these behaviors and can face negative repercussions for not performing OCB. As a result, women often find themselves in a “wifely” role, taking on necessary but often invisible activities that help keep the organization running smoothly. Women of color face an additional racial burden, known as cultural taxation. Over time, and across women, organizations, and societies, this collective imbalance restricts women’s global access to power and influence in decision-making.
This paper advocates for a reevaluation of organizational structures and processes that perpetuate inequities, urging a shift to address systemic issues. It calls on organizations and leaders to recognize the value of OCB and to ensure fair distribution of such work, while also highlighting some ‘red flag’ issues. Specific strategies for leaders operating at different organizational levels are offered with an eye toward changing gendered processes and norms. Beyond career advancement, this issue is about freeing women up so that they can change organizations, systems and societies to function for the collective good.
