Threads of Gender: Barriers, Microaggressions, and Women’s Well-Being at Work

Despite progress in gender equality, women continue to face barriers that shape their experiences of work, well-being, and career sustainability. These barriers are not limited to overt discrimination; they also emerge through microaggressions, subtle sexism, exclusionary organizational norms, unequal care expectations, occupational segregation, and limited recognition of women’s embodied experiences across the life course. In many workplaces, issues related to menstruation, pregnancy, postpartum transitions, breastfeeding, and menopause remain insufficiently acknowledged in policy and practice, with consequences for psychological health, belonging, and quality of working life, as well as for workplace policies and organizational practices intended to support women’s health, inclusion, and well-being.Together, these interconnected factors influence how women experience work across sectors, occupations, and cultural contexts.This Research Topic aims to advance understanding of how cultural, interpersonal, familial, and organizational barriers affect women’s well-being at work. We seek contributions that examine the mechanisms through which microaggressions, gendered expectations, care responsibilities, psychosocial risks, and inequitable workplace practices influence health, inclusion, motivation, and career outcomes including how workplace policies and risk-prevention frameworks shape women’s experiences and outcomes.We also welcome work exploring how digital transformation and changing work arrangements may reproduce, intensify, or help address gendered inequalities. Overall, this collection aims to highlight both the challenges women encounter in contemporary workplaces and the organizational, social, and policy conditions that may support more equitable and health-promoting work environments.We welcome theoretical, empirical, methodological, and review contributions addressing topics including:• microaggressions, benevolent and hostile sexism, and symbolic exclusion in organizational settings;• organizational justice, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in relation to women’s work experiences and the workplace conditions that support equality and non-discrimination;• work-family conflict, caregiving, emotional labor, and career sustainability;• menstrual, reproductive, postpartum, breastfeeding, and menopausal experiences at work;• psychosocial risks, stress, burnout, technostress, mental health in the workplace and preventive organizational practices;• occupational segregation, leadership development, visibility, and progression barriers;• digital transformation, algorithmic management, and technology-mediated work as contexts shaping women’s well-being;• development and validation of instruments measuring gendered barriers, microaggressions, inclusion, and related workplace outcomes;• intersectional, cross-cultural, and cross-sector analyses of women’s work and well-being;• organizational practices, interventions, and policy frameworks that promote supportive and inclusive workplaces including preventive measures, reasonable accommodations, and gender sensitive personnel management practices.We welcome Original Research, Review, Systematic Review, Methods, and Perspective articles. Topic editors: Carmela Buono, Silvia Platania, Emma Jeanes Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/80904/threads-of-gender-barriers-microaggressions-and-womens-well-being-at-work