Women In Important Jobs ‘More Stressed Than Men’

Women who climb the career ladder feel more stressed than their male counterparts, a new study has shown.

According to research by Yale University, published in Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, females have greater negative feelings associated with their workplace than men.

Women are more likely to report feeling overwhelmed, stressed, tense, less respected, frustrated, tense and discouraged, according to the 14,618 people who took part in the study.

Co-author Jochen Menges, from Cambridge Judge Business School, said: “It would be hard for anyone to break through a glass ceiling when they feel overwhelmed, stressed, less respected and less confident.”

Consequently, women are less likely to apply for or be given leadership roles, as they have more negative feelings linked with higher-level jobs.

Indeed, women at the lowest levels of employment felt significantly more respected than males, whereas this is the other way round the higher up the career ladder.

However, the findings revealed inhibiting negative emotions is also not a solution, as this leads to burnout in the long-run.

Consequently, more research is needed to determine whether women’s bad experiences, such as unequal treatment, lead to negative emotions, which then makes it harder to apply for, or be given, a promotion.

Menges added: “More needs to be done to level the playing field when it comes to emotional burdens at work.”

Recent figures showed 822,000 workers were affected by work-related stress, anxiety or depression in 2020/21, amounting to 2,530 cases for every 100,000 members of staff.

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