A damning survey out on Friday shows there's much more work to be done when it comes to eliminating sexism in the workplace.
More than half of people honestly believe that the way women behave at work is dictated by their hormones.
And over a third of managers consider whether a prospective employee might have a baby and have to take maternity leave when hiring.
The research, put together by B2B comparison site Expert Market, reveals some pretty worrying attitudes when it comes to the role of women and suggests that there's still a lot to do when it comes to making sure both genders get the same treatment in business.
Generally speaking, workplace gender equality has never been better than it is right now. Women are closing the gap in terms of pay, there are more female executives than ever before, and attitudes towards women in the workplace generally seem to be changing for the better.
But Expert Market's research found:
- 54% of people think female behaviour at work is "mostly dictated" by hormones;
- 63% of people don't think a gender pay gap exists;
- 14% of people think that it is right for women to be paid less than men;
- 50% of those surveyed think there are differences between men and women's capabilities in the workplace;
- 37% of hiring managers have considered the fact that a woman might have a baby when deciding whether or not to employ them.
Grace Garland, who created the report for Expert Market, says in an emailed statement:
The survey essentially shows that most people do not think there is much discrimination going on, but conflictingly, they do believe in damaging stereotypes such as that the women they work with make decisions due to their hormones.
That a huge 63% of people surveyed don't believe in the gender pay gap is particularly worrying. In the last two months alone, two massive international organisations - Eurostat, and the World Economic Forum - have produced data to show that the gender pay gap is very real.
Eurostat's figures show that there are only two regions in the whole of Europe where women earn the same or more than men, and the WEF reckons that it could be more than 100 years before women get paid the same as their male colleagues.