Humor can serve as a versatile tool for employees’ positive evaluations and advancement in the workplace. Although the expression of humor in professional contexts can offer unique advantages, research shows that it introduces a double-bind paradox for females in terms of increased potential negative workplace outcomes compared to humor expression by males. To better understand the nature of this paradox and mitigate these negative outcomes for women, we offer a new construct called humor authenticity and examine how its use can rectify the bind that females face. Drawing on the Stereotype Content Model as the theoretical foundation, our conceptualization and examination of humor authenticity highlights its potential to enhance the positive impact of humor for women resulting in increased perceptions of voice and performance across both a field study and an experiment. This research not only seeks to clarify the complex dynamics between humor and gender but also offers females a strategic tool to maximize the advantages of humor while skillfully mitigating its potential risks. As a result, this research positions humor authenticity as an empowering strategy that enables women to effectively address and overcome the gendered challenges inherent in the use of humor in the workplace thereby providing a thoughtful and actionable approach to navigating these complexities.
