Research shows that people often feel emotional distress when they experience a potentially discriminatory incident but cannot classify it conclusively. In this study, we propose that the ramifications of such ambiguous incidents extend beyond interior, emotional costs to include socially consequential action (or inaction) at work. Taking a mixed-methods approach, we examine how professional women experience and respond to incidents that they believe might have been gender discrimination, but about which they feel uncertain. Our interviews show that women struggle with how to interpret and respond to ambiguous incidents. Survey data show that women experience ambiguous incidents more often than incidents they believe were obviously discriminatory. Our vignette experiment reveals that women anticipate responding differently to the same incident depending on its level of ambiguity. Following incidents that are obviously discriminatory, women anticipate taking actions that make others aware of the problem; following ambiguous incidents, women anticipate changing their own work habits and self-presentation. This study establishes ambiguous gendered incidents as a familiar element of many women’s work lives that must be considered to address unequal gendered experiences at work.

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研究表明，当人们经历潜在的歧视事件但无法对其进行最终分类时，他们常常会感到情绪困扰。在这项研究中，我们提出，此类模棱两可事件的后果不仅限于内部情感成本，还包括工作中具有社会影响的行动（或不行动）。我们采用混合方法，研究职业女性如何经历和应对她们认为可能是性别歧视但又感到不确定的事件。我们的采访显示，女性在如何解释和应对模棱两可的事件方面遇到了困难。调查数据显示，与她们认为明显歧视的事件相比，女性更经常经历模棱两可的事件。我们的小插曲实验表明，女性对同一事件的预期反应会根据事件的模糊程度而有所不同。在发生明显歧视性事件后，女性期望采取行动让其他人意识到问题；在发生模棱两可的事件后，女性期望改变自己的工作习惯和自我表现。这项研究将性别模糊事件确定为许多女性工作生活中常见的因素，必须考虑解决工作中不平等的性别经历。

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