Contesting the Contest: Feminist Identity as a Buffer Against Masculinity Contest Culture

ABSTRACT

Despite the growing attention to workplace gender equity, organizational culture often reinforces masculine norms that marginalize women and threaten their well‐being. One example of this is masculinity contest culture (MCC)—a culture characterized by hyper‐masculine norms such as dominance and aggression, where any feminine behaviors are disparaged. This study examines MCC as an organizational‐level identity threat for women and whether feminist identity attenuates the association between MCC and psychological distress. Drawing on social identity theory and the transactional model of stress, it was hypothesized that women who more strongly identify as a feminist will report weaker associations between psychological distress and MCC. Data were collected from 209 U.S. women working full‐time, in‐person across various industries using a multi‐wave design. Results indicate that MCC was significantly associated with greater psychological distress measured 2 months later. The interaction between feminist identity and MCC was statistically significant. Simple slopes analyses suggest that the association between MCC and distress is strongest among women low in feminist identity and nonsignificant among those high in feminist identity. Findings highlight the potential of feminist identity to function as a psychological resource for women that may mitigate organizational‐level gender threats.