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Gender Equality Policies under Scrutiny: The Interplay Between Belief in Discrimination and Perceived Organizational Hypocrisy in Times of Anti-Wokism

par Mumbanza Ngeke, Joseph
Président du jury Klein, Olivier
Promoteur Toma, Claudia
Co-Promoteur Licata, Laurent
Publication Non publié, 2026-06-09

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Résumé :

This dissertation examines the psychological, organizational, and ideological mechanisms shaping employees’ attitudes toward gender equality policies in contemporary workplaces. Adopting a multi level perspective and a mixed methods approach, it analyzes how societal discourses, organizational practices, and individual belief systems jointly structure support for, resistance to, and criticism of equality initiatives.Across qualitative and quantitative studies, including qualitative, correlational, and experimental designs, the dissertation shows that belief in gender discrimination functions as a central interpretive process through which employees evaluate gender equality policies. The findings reveal a gendered paradox. Among men, stronger belief in the persistence of gender discrimination is associated with greater support for gender equality policies. Among women, the same belief is more likely to heighten perceptions of organizational hypocrisy, which in turn undermines support.Experimental evidence confirms that perceived organizational hypocrisy mediates the relationship between belief in gender discrimination and attitudes toward gender equality policies, particularly when policy implementation is perceived as lacking authenticity. Complementary qualitative analyses highlight the role of organizational and ideological narratives, including meritocratic reasoning, skepticism toward institutional commitments, and ideological backlash. These narratives take the form of anti woke stigmatization, which frames equality initiatives as excessive or ideologically driven, as well as woke washing accusations, which denounce symbolic compliance and superficial commitment.By integrating social identity theory, organizational justice perspectives, institutional theory, and research on psychological contract breach, this dissertation offers an integrated framework for understanding how equality policies become simultaneously contested on ideological, organizational, and psychological grounds. The findings underline the importance of authentic implementation, procedural fairness, and transparent communication to sustain support for gender equality policies and to mitigate ideological backlash in organizations.