Looking for evidence that men sometimes treat women differently at work? Assume a false persona.

Talent shortages are here to stay, especially wherever engineering is concerned. So tech and energy companies are trying to figure out how to keep highly skilled, experienced people. A recent study examined why women leave the science, engineering, and technology (SET) professions in disproportionate numbers. The New York Times highlighted it yesterday, and a more in-depth review will appear in June's Harvard Business Review. Things start out OK for women in the SET workforce: 75% of women between 25 and 29 are "described as 'superb,' 'excellent' or 'outstanding' on their performance reviews, words used for 61 percent of men in the same age group. [But] An exodus occurs around age 35 to 40." So the challenge is to gather hard evidence revealing why -- not an easy task. The study authors identify several factors, including a pervasive macho culture. (I'm curious to read the study and see what types of companies still have cultures like that.)*

You can call me Finn. One person stumbled across evidence showing men treating women differently -- by inadvertently letting colleagues believe she was a man. "Josephine, a computer programmer whose boss at a start-up a decade ago nicknamed her Finn, stands out among the accounts. 'It turned out to be really useful to allow some of my colleagues to imagine I was a man,' the worker is quoted as saying. The e-mail messages Finn received were strikingly different than those received by Josephine. Not only did they contain 'brutal locker room stuff, that was hard to take,' but also important information shared by colleagues who wanted to keep each other in the loop. Josephine got none of that, making the advantage of being a man in a male world quite clear." Sad. That was in 1997.

The Center for Work-Life Policy -- a nonprofit focusing on women and work-- did the study. Sylvia Ann Hewlett, the founder, also has a book out from Harvard B-School Press: Off Ramps and On Ramps: Keeping Talented Women on the Road to Success.

*I've worked in technology and engineering roles in the oil/gas industry and also in enterprise software. Generally speaking, the more entrepreneurial the company, the less difference I noticed in how women and men behaved (I also saw less blatant prejudice -- in all forms, racism, anti-Semitism, etc. -- at the more innovative companies). I occasionally talk to folks who still work in not-so-sensitive environments, where a few people control the culture and act really uncouth -- we can only hope their days are numbered. I haven't had to put up with stuff like that for a long time.