Women still face gender bias at work. It's just harder to see.
"Women are expected to be self-modest, self-effacing team players," explains Joan Williams, the co-author of "$4."
That stereotype, she says, leads to the expectation that they will be happy to do the "$4," or low-value tasks like taking notes in meetings and mentoring junior colleagues.
Women are more likely than men to do these chores but are less likely to benefit from them. And when they try to avoid them, they are often viewed as not being team players.
The issue of office housework landing on women often flies under the radar or is dismissed as insignificant, but it can be costly for a woman's career.
"It means that women end up working even longer hours because they have to do the housework, and sometimes it means they cannot get access to higher-value work," Williams says.
Here are six examples of menial office tasks women are typically expected to take on:
1. Women are often expected to $4. In her Wall Street Journal article, "$4," Williams sites a Latina science professor who is regularly asked to play the role of mother hen and take care of various secretarial tasks. She is one of many women assumed to handle these tasks because no one else will.
2. Women are often $4 in a meeting. This one can be detrimental, write Wharton professor Adam Grant and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg in their New York Times article, "$4." In addition to using up valuable time, taking notes during meetings can cause women to miss opportunities, since it's very difficult for the person scribbling away to also make the killer point.
3. Women are often asked to $4, soda, or other beverages. Grant and Sandberg write that women are also asked to carry out more personal tasks, such as getting coffee. This can be a particularly tricky situation to deal with, as women are often viewed as selfish if they say no.
4. Women are often $4 and assist coworkers. And if they don't do it, they're punished. Psychologist Madeline Heilman led a $4 where participants were asked to rate the performance of a male or female employee who did or did not offer to stay after work to help a colleague. If a man stayed late, his favorability was enhanced by 14%. When both the man and woman declined to stay late, the woman was rated 12% less favorably than the man. Repeatedly, after offering identical work-related altruism, the man was more likely to be promoted and offered important projects, raises, and bonuses.
5. Women are often $4. And when a woman declines to help out, coworkers like her less and her career suffers, write Grant and Sandberg in their $4. What's more, when a man says no, he faces no negative consequences; he is regarded as "busy," while a woman would be considered "selfish."
6. Women are often expected to $4 for a colleague's birthday, order food for the office, and plan parties. While this may seem insignificant, this type of office housework can take a psychological toll, $4 Grant and Sandberg. They cite an $4 of 183 studies across 15 countries and various occupations that revealed that women were more likely to feel emotionally exhausted, which significantly increases their chances of burning out.