Are Companies Committed to Preventing Gender Violence against Women? The Role of the Manager’s Implicit Resistance

Abstract

This study aims to provide evidence that managers’ commitment towards preventing gender violence against women is affected by implicit resistance from the patriarchal culture. A structured questionnaire was given to 673 managers of 243 small, medium, and large private companies in Metropolitan Lima, Peru. We design and test a conceptual model using covariance-based structural equation modeling. Even though 90.3% of managers report being committed to and in favor of preventing gender violence in companies, 48.6% have intense implicit resistance against it. In general, 3 out of 4 managers do not believe in violence against women because they consider it “biased”, and think that policies should only talk about family or partner violence. In addition, 2 out of 4 believe that equality policies have “hidden interests” that generate mistrust. The structural equations show that implicit resistance, directly and indirectly, decreases managers’ commitment and actions towards preventing gender violence in organizations. Gender biases, irrational beliefs about sexual violence, and a lack of appreciation of gender equality strongly predict these resistances. Business involvement in the prevention of gender violence is a more complex process than expected, requiring a reinforced strategy aimed at overcoming managers’ implicit resistance.