Women remain underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), which curtails economic growth. Three preregistered experiments with STEM employees and one correlational field study with engineering students examined how an inclusive culture, with its weaker masculine defaults, frees women (and men) from the need to conform to dominant forms of leadership. Unlike men, women who engage in stereotypically masculine dominance encounter backlash for their norm-violating behavior. We further tested whether more inclusive cultures reduce women’s gap between their desired career advancement and the advancement they think will be possible, without harming men’s aspirations. In the three experiments (N=376, N=744, N=417), we randomly assigned STEM employees to imagine working as a leader in an organization with either a competitive-meritocratic (CM) or equity-inclusive (EDI) culture. Confirming our assumptions, results showed that women—and men—used less dominance in the EDI than CM culture. The EDI culture further released women’s otherwise constrained career aspirations without adding constraints for men. Mediation showed that both dominance and career constraint were reduced because of weaker perceived masculine defaults. The field study (N=265) examined leadership behavior in a natural setting with engineering university students working together in teams where leadership emerged organically. Results showed that both women and men used less dominant leadership behaviors in more egalitarian (rather than hierarchical) teams. Moreover, in more egalitarian teams, women received higher grades than men, whereas no such difference existed in more hierarchical teams. In concert, gender-inclusive cultures benefit everyone, and particularly women, who are underrepresented in STEM.
