A new study reveals gender gaps in how men and women showcase their skills on LinkedIn, a platform widely used by recruiters to identify job candidates. Men are more likely to emphasize leadership and negotiation, while women focus on support-oriented skills. Even women who are already leaders are less likely than their male counterparts to tout their leadership skills.
The research, conducted by Alan Benson, a management professor at the University of Minnesota, was posted on the Social Science Research Network. For his analysis, Benson utilized a commercially available dataset of all LinkedIn profiles in the U.S. and selected a random sample of roughly 13 million profiles.
With over a billion members worldwide, LinkedIn has become an important tool for showcasing professional skills and attracting recruiters. The platform's skills section is useful for highlighting professional strengths, and Benson's research reveals gender differences in the words chosen by women and men. Among the top 20 most popular skills mentioned on the platform, men are significantly more likely to list traits like "negotiation," "project management," and "team leadership," with men 45% more likely than women to include "negotiation." Meanwhile, women are more likely to highlight skills such as "PowerPoint," "time management," and "event planning," reflecting a distinct divide in how men and women present themselves professionally.
The following table from Benson's paper reveals the relative shares of women who list each of the top-20 most frequently-listed skills on LinkedIn (numbers less than one indicate men list this skill more, numbers greater than one means women list it more). This gender divide isn't about who lists more skills overall -- men and women are equally likely to include the top 20 skills in their profiles. It also can't be explained by career level or job choice, as Benson accounted for both occupation and seniority.
Benson then took a deeper dive, examining gender differences in the use of leadership skills on LinkedIn. Women are 16% less likely than men to list the leadership skills, "team leadership," "leadership," and "team building," even when controlling for their occupation and company. "Even within the exact same job title and company, women are only 91% as likely as men to report leadership," Benson writes in the paper.
The gender gap in self-reported leadership skills persists across all career levels, from junior employees to senior executives. Even women in top leadership positions are less likely than their male peers to showcase leadership skills on their profiles, despite already being leaders within their organizations. "The more senior you go, the more likely both men and women are to include leadership skills. It's just that men always outpace women -- in about the same amount -- at all levels of seniority," Benson explained to me.
The data don't tell us why these gaps persist. It could reflect gender differences in how men and women perceive themselves, how comfortable women and men are with self-promotion or differences in their career aspirations. Research shows that women are less likely to engage in negotiation, suggesting that the omission of negotiation from women's listed skills may accurately reflect this preference.
However, there's also evidence of a gender gap in self-promotion. Women are less likely than men to highlight their abilities and accomplishments when presenting themselves to potential employers. Therefore, the omission of leadership skills may reflect women's reluctance to promote themselves. Finally, there's also evidence men and women have different career aspirations, with men showing more desire for top leadership positions -- suggesting yet another reason women may be less likely to include these skills on their profiles.
Regional patterns suggest that adhering to traditional gender roles likely also plays a significant role in explaining these gender differences. Benson explored how the gender gap in listing leadership skills varied across the country. He found that the gap in the most socially conservative states is nearly double that of the most liberal states. In Utah, men are 43% more likely than women to list leadership skills, while in progressive states like New Hampshire and California, the gap narrows to just 11-13%. "In Utah, the majority of the population is Mormon, and they have more traditional values," Benson explained.
One of Benson's most striking findings shows that the gender gap in self-reported leadership skills nearly vanishes in companies with highly rated work-life balance. Using Glassdoor ratings, he discovered that at firms with the highest work-life balance scores, female and male employees are almost equally likely to highlight leadership skills on their LinkedIn profiles. It's unclear whether women who aspire to be leaders are more attracted to these companies or if working for these companies increases their desire to be leaders. "When your company has a good work-life balance, it makes the idea of leading others more tenable," Benson explains. Interestingly, both men and women are more likely to report that they have leadership skills when they work for companies with good work-life balance, but the effect is more pronounced for women.
What about companies with more women in senior management roles? While these companies see higher rates of reported leadership skills among employees of both genders, the increase is particularly pronounced among men. Seeing female leaders may make leadership roles seem more attainable for both men and women. "But at the same time, it might be read a little bit differently for women. They may perceive that those female leaders gave up something to get there," Benson suggests.
In a world where professional opportunities increasingly depend on our digital profiles, how we present ourselves online has never been more important. Benson's findings underscore that women don't promote their leadership skills, which may hinder their career opportunities. But, adding leadership skills to a LinkedIn profile carries no downside. Even if leadership isn't your current aspiration, showcasing these skills could open doors to unexpected opportunities.