The Femininity Workplace Culture Scale
Vial & Beneda (2025)
Background
We developed the Femininity Workplace Culture (FWC) scale to measure organizational norms that reflect the female gender role. The scale items focus on workplace behaviors and attitudes that denote descriptive norms (what is typical), prescriptive norms (what is encouraged or rewarded) and proscriptive norms (what is discouraged or punished). The FWC scale comprises two broad dimensions that align with the female gender role and/or femininity norms: A Communal dimension (captured by the "Support your coworkers" factor of the FWC scale) and an Unmitigated Communion dimension (including three sub-dimensions captured by the FWC scale's factors: "Put yourself last", "Show no anger", and "Avoid confrontation"). Our ongoing work shows that these norms (as measured by the FWC scale) are characteristic of occupations and workplaces in which women are overrepresented and in which the work itself entails the provision of care (i.e., labor that involves meeting the emotional, psychological, developmental, and/or physical needs of others), which is stereotypically female. Across several studies comprising over 5,000 participants from various occupations in the United States and the United Kingdom, the FWC scale dimensions demonstrate good internal and test-retest reliability, and they consistently predict work-relevant outcomes (e.g., lack of work-life balance, work-related burnout, experiences of workplace ostracism) and psychological outcomes (e.g., anxiety, depression, feelings of authenticity). The "Support your coworkers" dimension of FWC predicts positive outcomes, whereas the "Unmitigated communion" dimension predicts negative outcomes. Importantly, our work shows that these two dimensions tend to co-exist in female-typed occupations and workplaces. The full 24-item scale, and the short 8-item version, are available below.
How to cite this work
This work is not published yet. If you would like to use the FWC scale, please cite:
Vial, A. C. & Beneda, M. (2025, February 20). Toward a theory of femininity at work: Conceptualization and development of the Femininity Workplace Culture scale. [Paper presentation]. Society for Personality and Social Psychology 25th Annual Convention, Denver, CO, United States.
Vial, A. C. & Beneda, M. (2025). Femininity workplace culture: Conceptualization and scale development [Manuscript in preparation]. New York University Abu Dhabi.
24-Item Femininity Workplace Culture Scale
1. Where I work, employees support each other.
2. Where I work, employees cheer each other on.
3. Where I work, most people seem to care for their colleagues.
4. Where I work, employees tend to rally together in difficult times.
5. Where I work, people tend to be compassionate to their co-workers.
6. Where I work, people celebrate each other’s work-related achievements.
7. Where I work, overtime hours are expected even if you don't get paid extra.
8. Where I work, if you refuse to work after hours, others won't consider you a "team player".
9. Where I work, you're expected to give up your free time to fill in for others.
10. Where I work, employees frequently take on extra responsibilities with no additional reward.
11. Where I work, employees feel pressure to make personal sacrifices without receiving any reward.
12. Where I work, there is pressure to go above and beyond the call of duty without extra compensation.
13. Where I work, acting grumpy is frowned upon.
14. Where I work, you're expected to hide anger.
15. Where I work, it is not okay to scowl or look angry.
16. Where I work, showing bad temper is unacceptable.
17. Where I work, you must manage your emotions if you want to be respected.
18. Where I work, you're expected to always present a positive and welcoming front to others.
19. Where I work, employees criticize others behind their backs rather than to their face.
20. Where I work, people might engage in passive-aggressive behaviors when they feel slighted.
21. Where I work, people sometimes gossip about other employees when their feelings are hurt.
22. Where I work, when people feel wronged by a colleague, they might decide to exclude that person from a social gathering.
23. Where I work, people tend to give co-workers the “silent treatment” when they're angry instead of openly discussing what bothers them.
24. Where I work, when people feel upset with someone, they might choose to exclude that person from a collaborative opportunity that could be beneficial for them.
NOTE: All items rated from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree).
Items 1-6 capture the "Support your coworkers" dimension of FWC.
Items 7-24 capture the "Unmitigated communion" dimension of FWC, which is comprised of three sub-dimensions: "Put yourself last" (items 7-12), "Show no anger" (items 13-18), and "Avoid confrontation" (items 19-24).
8-Item Femininity Workplace Culture Scale
The short version of the FWC scale includes 8 items from the 24-item version (two per dimension/sub-dimension):
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Items 1 & 3 ("Support your coworkers")
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Items 7 & 12 ("Put yourself last")
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Items 13 & 14 ("Show no anger")
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Items 20 & 21 ("Avoid confrontation")
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