Research and evidence · Updated November 2026
Research can help us ask better questions about women's working lives, and the conditions around them. Each entry below says who published it, who was studied, and what it can't tell us.
These sources inform my work. They don't prove that Houston, XRAY, Stavig-Ellens or the Work Fit and Retention Check work, and none of them can tell you what happened in one woman's workplace. General workplace studies are labelled as not specific to women. For a wider list of reports, databases and laws, see Resources.
Each entry has a review status. "Publisher page checked" means the page was opened and its title, publisher and date match what's listed here. It doesn't mean the findings were reviewed. Most statuses were recorded during earlier research and don't carry a date for each check. Where a stronger check can't be backed by a record, the status says "Review record pending". Each entry shows its own publication year; "Updated November 2026" is when this list last changed.
Listing a source here gives no permission to use anyone's private story for research.
of members of Canadian engineering regulators identified as female in 2024.
Engineers Canada, 2025 report, 2024 data. A membership count, not a measure of how many women stay in engineering.of women and men employees reported a lot of stress the previous day.
Gallup, State of the Global Workplace, 2026 report, 2025 data. Self-reported stress from any cause, not only work.compared on women's legal rights, the institutions that support them, and how well the laws are seen to be enforced.
World Bank, Women, Business and the Law 2026. Laws, supporting policies, and legal experts' views of enforcement are three separate measures.Show sources relevant to:
McKinsey & Lean In · 2025 · Women in the Workplace 2025 · Primary report
Career progression, promotion, sponsorship and organizational practices; official landing page currently identifies 2025, not 2026.
Limit: U.S. corporate-company sample; company data and employee survey are distinct.
Review status: Publisher page checked
XRAY Stavig-Ellens WFRC
Deloitte · 2026 · Women @ Work 2026: A Global Outlook · Primary survey
7,500 women in 15 countries; work, health, household responsibilities, career experience.
Limit: Surveyed non-Deloitte women; compare annual editions carefully.
Review status: Publisher page checked
Houston WFRC XRAY Stavig-Ellens
World Economic Forum · 2026 · Global Gender Gap Report 2026 · Benchmark index
145 economies; economic participation, representation, education, health and political empowerment.
Limit: Country-level index is not a company-level diagnosis.
Review status: Publisher page checked
XRAY WFRC Stavig-Ellens
UN Women & UN DESA · 2026 · The Gender Snapshot 2026 · UN statistical report
Progress on gender equality across the SDGs, institutions, leadership and accountability.
Limit: Cross-national estimates; individual country methods vary.
Review status: Publisher page checked
XRAY WFRC
Artz, Goodall & Oswald / Harvard Business Review · 2018 · Research: Women Ask for Raises as Often as Men, but Are Less Likely to Get Them · Research interpretation
Australian negotiation evidence challenges simplistic advice to tell women to ask more.
Limit: HBR article summarizes an underlying study; not universal to all sectors.
Review status: Publisher page checked
Houston XRAY WFRC
Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub / ISED · 2025 · Women Entrepreneurship Strategy: Progress Report 2024 · Government summary of research
Canadian entrepreneurship barriers, growth and support systems.
Limit: Linked page is WES progress report, not full original WEKH study.
Review status: Publisher page checked
XRAY WFRC
Statistics Canada · 2026 · The Gender Wage Gap Persists · Federal statistical analysis
2025 Canadian average hourly pay comparisons: women earned 88 cents per dollar paid to men overall.
Limit: Hourly wages are an aggregate, not an equal-pay-for-identical-jobs estimate.
Review status: Publisher page checked
XRAY WFRC Stavig-Ellens
Statistics Canada · 2026 · Labour Force Survey — Women in the Labour Force · Federal labour-market data
Canadian employment, wage and part-time work patterns by sex.
Limit: February 2026 observation window; do not imply annual outcomes.
Review status: Publisher page checked
XRAY WFRC
Spoon, Mendy, Martinez, Galesic, Clauset, Larremore and Rivera · 2026 · Devaluation Underlies Gendered U.S. Faculty Departures Across Disciplines and Institutions (PNAS Nexus) · Peer-reviewed study
6,615 written answers from current and former university faculty; feeling devalued was the factor most tied to women leaving.
Limit: Academic faculty in the United States, not women in industry.
Review status: Publisher summary checked · full paper not reviewed
Houston WFRC Stavig-Ellens XRAY
Gallup · 2026 · State of the Global Workplace 2026 · Primary global survey
Employee engagement, daily stress, wellbeing, management and workplace conditions.
Limit: Overall global trends are not gender-specific unless disaggregated.
Review status: Publisher page checked
Houston XRAY WFRC Stavig-Ellens
American Psychological Association · Annual series · Work in America survey reports · Survey series
Stress, uncertainty, AI, relationships, belonging and psychological resources at work.
Limit: APA survey, not a diagnostic instrument for a participant.
Review status: Publisher page checked
Houston WFRC XRAY
American Psychological Association · 2024 · Psychological Safety in the Changing Workplace · Primary survey
Psychological safety, employee voice, workplace change and wellbeing.
Limit: Observational associations do not establish causes.
Review status: Publisher page checked
Houston WFRC Stavig-Ellens XRAY
Amy Edmondson / Administrative Science Quarterly · 1999 · Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams · Peer-reviewed research
Foundational field study linking team psychological safety with learning behavior in 51 teams.
Limit: Team-level construct; not a personal safety guarantee.
Review status: Publisher page checked
XRAY Stavig-Ellens WFRC Houston
Harvard / Robert Waldinger · Ongoing · Harvard Study of Adult Development · Longitudinal research program
Relationships, social connection, health and long-term wellbeing across adult life.
Limit: Do not assert that work success or workplace problems alone determine happiness.
Review status: Publisher page checked
Houston WFRC
International Labour Organization · 2024 · Unpaid care work prevents 708 million women from participating in the labour market · Statistical brief
2023 global estimates of labour-force nonparticipation due to care responsibilities.
Limit: People outside the labour force are not the same as unemployed workers.
Review status: Publisher page checked
Houston WFRC XRAY
American Psychological Association · 2023 · Workplaces as engines of psychological health and well-being · Primary survey
Employee expectations for respectful workplaces and psychological wellbeing.
Limit: Self-report survey, not clinical evidence about individuals.
Review status: Publisher page checked
Houston WFRC
Statistics Canada · 2026 · Satisfaction with Time Use · Federal survey fact sheet
Time-use satisfaction and differences across ages, with attention to interpretation of gender differences.
Limit: Avoid treating nonsignificant group differences as established.
Review status: Publisher page checked
Houston WFRC
Harvard Human Flourishing Program / Baylor / Gallup · 2025–2026 · Global Flourishing Study · Longitudinal research program
More than 200,000 participants in 22 countries; happiness, meaning, relationships, health and stability.
Limit: Wellbeing across life is broader than the workplace; not clinical assessment.
Review status: Publisher page checked
Houston WFRC XRAY
Engineers Canada · 2025 · 2025 National Membership Information (2024 data) · Regulator administrative data
Canadian engineering membership, licensing and sex representation: 15.8% female-identifying membership in 2024.
Limit: Published report year differs from 2024 observation year; excludes prefer-not-to-say in denominators.
Review status: Particular statistic checked
Stavig-Ellens WFRC XRAY
National Science Board / NCSES · 2024 · The State of U.S. Science and Engineering 2024 · Federal statistical report
STEM workforce, education, technical capacity and career pathways.
Limit: U.S.-specific; use precise engineer versus STEM occupation definitions.
Review status: Publisher page checked
Stavig-Ellens WFRC
LinkedIn Economic Graph · 2025 · Generative AI & Gender: Global Employment Trends · Platform labor-market analysis
Gender distributions across occupational exposure to generative AI.
Limit: LinkedIn-member/occupation-derived coverage is not the entire labor market.
Review status: Publisher page checked
Stavig-Ellens WFRC XRAY
Society of Women Engineers (SWE) · 2025 · Retention in the Engineering Workforce · Sector research summary
Engineering retention patterns using NCSES sources; explicitly distinguishes degree-holder career paths and employed engineer job satisfaction.
Limit: NCSES tables underpin some findings; cohorts and observation years differ.
Review status: Publisher page checked
Stavig-Ellens WFRC
Lean In · 2026 · New research: Women use AI less often at work and get less credit · Primary survey summary
Workplace AI use, manager encouragement, praise and perceptions of judgement.
Limit: Lean In U.S. adult survey; workplace AI and consumer chatbot statistics must not be pooled.
Review status: Publisher methods checked
XRAY Houston Stavig-Ellens WFRC
Pew Research Center · 2026 · The Gender Gap in AI · Primary national survey
U.S. adult chatbot use: men 27% versus women 20% daily, on the published measure.
Limit: Daily chatbot usage among U.S. adults is not technical AI use at work.
Review status: Particular statistic checked
XRAY Houston WFRC
Cranney, Delecourt & Koning / HBS AI Institute · 2026 · The Gender Divide in Generative AI: A Global Challenge [Update] · Academic working paper and university summary
Cross-country research on gender differences in generative AI adoption and frequency.
Limit: Underlying working paper should be cited for exact rates; avoid mixing editions.
Review status: Publisher page checked
XRAY Stavig-Ellens WFRC
Stanford HAI · 2026 · The 2026 AI Index Report · Research synthesis and data
Global AI capabilities, economy, labor, governance and responsible AI.
Limit: Each statistic may originate in different underlying sources.
Review status: Publisher page checked
XRAY Stavig-Ellens WFRC
McKinsey / QuantumBlack · 2026 · The State of AI: Global Survey 2026 · Organizational survey
AI scaling, individual productivity, financial outcomes and organizational change.
Limit: Organizational respondent perspectives; not a women-specific survey.
Review status: Publisher page checked
XRAY Stavig-Ellens
WomenTech Network and Women AI Builders · 2026 · The State of Women in AI 2026 · Community survey
How women in tech use, build and lead with AI, and how supported and recognized they feel.
Limit: Community-recruited survey of women in tech, not a representative sample of all women. Results not yet reviewed here.
Review status: Official study page · findings not reviewed here
XRAY Stavig-Ellens WFRC
Microsoft · 2026 · 2026 Work Trend Index: Agents, Human Agency, and Opportunity · Primary worker survey + signals
Organizational work redesign and agency; surveys 20,000 AI-using workers across 10 countries.
Limit: Sample of AI-using workers; not all employees or all women.
Review status: Publisher methods checked
XRAY Stavig-Ellens WFRC
Charter · 2026 · The AI Pulse · Primary survey summary
AI user agency, manager actions, hands-on training, concealment of AI use.
Limit: Associations are not causation; preserve sample definitions.
Review status: Publisher page checked
XRAY Stavig-Ellens Houston
Wharton Human-AI Research and GBK Collective · 2026 · The Adaptive Advantage: Who's Winning with AI and How · Survey (press release)
1,416 United States leaders and employees; leaders and staff see AI returns and training differently.
Limit: Not specific to women; the leaders’ return figure applies to leaders only.
Review status: Publisher page located · findings not yet reviewed
XRAY Stavig-Ellens
Insperity and Lighthouse Research & Advisory · 2026 · Beyond AI adoption: Closing the gap between technology and people (summary of the report The AI Balance Gap) · Survey summary
United States workers and small and mid-sized business leaders on AI and the people side of adoption.
Limit: Not specific to women; small and mid-sized United States firms.
Review status: Publisher page located · findings not yet reviewed
XRAY
OECD · 2026 · Pay Transparency in Progress: Valuing Jobs, Closing Gender Pay Gaps · Comparative policy report
Pay audits, gender-neutral job evaluation and policy implementation across OECD countries.
Limit: International policy comparisons require jurisdiction checks.
Review status: Review record pending
XRAY Stavig-Ellens WFRC
Gallup · 2026 · State of the Global Workplace 2026: global data · Survey data
Manager and individual-contributor comparisons on engagement and stress.
Limit: Role comparisons do not prove which practices caused results.
Review status: Particular statistic checked
XRAY Stavig-Ellens
World Bank · 2026 · Women, Business and the Law 2026 · Global law and enforcement report
190 economies; laws, supportive institutions and perceived enforcement of economic rights.
Limit: Perceived enforcement is not directly observed enforcement.
Review status: Particular statistic checked
XRAY WFRC Stavig-Ellens
World Bank · 2026 · Women, Business and the Law 2026 datasets · Original data and reproducibility
Downloadable data on legal frameworks, supportive frameworks and enforcement perceptions.
Limit: Companion datasets to WBL 2026, not a second study.
Review status: Publisher page checked
XRAY WFRC
International Labour Organization · 2025 · Advancing Decent Work and the Care Economy · Policy evidence / ILO
Unpaid care, social infrastructure, economic participation and decent work.
Limit: Policy scenarios and projections are not observed outcomes.
Review status: Publisher page checked
Houston WFRC XRAY
Australian Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) · 2026 · Employer Gender Pay Gaps Report, 2024–25 · Employer reported dataset + report
Australian employer-level pay-gap reporting and linked spreadsheet of organizations.
Limit: Employer-wide gaps are not proof of unequal pay for identical work.
Review status: Publisher page checked
XRAY Stavig-Ellens WFRC
Harvard Business School, Institute for Business in Global Society · 2026 · Election 2026: How changes in social policy may affect business · Expert analysis
How United States gender, diversity and immigration policy is changing, mostly through executive action rather than law.
Limit: United States only; expert opinion, not data.
Review status: Publisher page located · findings not yet reviewed
XRAY WFRC
These pages lead to many studies. They are listed so you can explore them, not as single pieces of evidence.
ISED / Toronto Metropolitan University · 2026 · Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub · Research hub
Canadian research network, support models and entrepreneurship knowledge mobilization.
Limit: Directory and program, not one empirical study.
Review status: Research hub or index · individual studies not reviewed
XRAY WFRC
Harvard Human Flourishing Program · 2026 · Global Flourishing Study Research Publications · Research publication index
Peer-reviewed and ongoing cross-national research on happiness, purpose, relationships and material stability.
Limit: Index comprises multiple papers; cite a specific paper for claims.
Review status: Research hub or index · individual studies not reviewed
Houston WFRC
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health · 2025–2026 · Harvard Center for Work, Health, and Well-being — Featured Publications · Academic publication index
Worker health, job design, thriving from work and aging workforce studies.
Limit: Specific papers and measures have different populations and methods.
Review status: Research hub or index · individual studies not reviewed
Houston WFRC Stavig-Ellens
Harvard University · Ongoing · Harvard Happiness — Research Guides and Harvard Study · Academic university research gateway
Harvard synthesis of connections, health, social support and wellbeing.
Limit: Gateway, not independent new cohort or causal study.
Review status: Research hub or index · individual studies not reviewed
Houston WFRC
Engineers Canada · Annual · National Membership Report archive · Official data series
Canadian multi-year professional engineering participation and licensing trends.
Limit: Archive, not an independent additional study.
Review status: Research hub or index · individual studies not reviewed
Stavig-Ellens WFRC
National Science Board / NSF · 2026 · National Science Board publications (lists STEM Talent, February 2026) · Federal statistical series
2026 thematic reports on STEM education, training and workforce.
Limit: Index to specific reports, not a verified extracted percentage.
Review status: Research hub or index · individual studies not reviewed
Stavig-Ellens WFRC
WomenTech Network · 2026 · Women in AI statistics: 200+ sourced findings · Secondary statistics index
Compilation of research and statistics about women in AI; follow upstream sources for every claim.
Limit: 200+ metrics are not 200 independent observations.
Review status: Secondary compilation · check each figure at its original source
XRAY Stavig-Ellens WFRC
Women Love AI · 2026 · State of Women in AI 2026 — separate forthcoming initiative · Announced study / waitlist
Separate report initiative that must not be combined with WomenTech findings.
Limit: Do not cite it as an already published benchmark.
Review status: Announced · not yet published
XRAY WFRC
IBM Institute for Business Value · 2026 · IBM Institute for Business Value (features the 2026 CHRO Study) · Publisher research index
Human-AI collaboration, HR participation in AI strategy and organizational operating models.
Limit: Find specific CHRO report before quoting an exact result.
Review status: Research hub or index · individual studies not reviewed
XRAY Stavig-Ellens
Books and frameworks by other authors. They shape how I listen, write and explain. They are not evidence about women’s experiences, and none of them proves that my work is effective.
Amy Edmondson · 2019 / 1999 · The Fearless Organization; Psychological Safety
Make interpersonal risk and speaking-up conditions visible.
Limit: Team-level construct; no guarantee of protection from retaliation.
Stavig-Ellens WFRC XRAY Houston
Daniel Goleman · 1995 / 1998 · Emotional Intelligence; Working with Emotional Intelligence
Empathic listening, self-awareness and careful language.
Limit: Do not infer or score someone’s EI from a narrative.
Houston XRAY WFRC
John Demartini · 2013 · The Values Factor
Invite exploration of changing personal priorities and values.
Limit: Demartini’s explanatory model is not established workplace-causation evidence.
Houston WFRC
Drew D’Agostino & Greg Skloot · 2019 · Crystal; Predicting Personality
Adapt communication style when preferences are expressed or consented to.
Limit: No covert personality classification or unconsented DISC inference.
Houston XRAY
April Dunford · 2019 · Obviously Awesome
Positioning: alternatives, difference, value and best-fit audience.
Limit: Marketing tool, not a scoring rubric.
Houston WFRC XRAY Stavig-Ellens
Nancy Duarte · 2010 / 2019 · Resonate; DataStory
Present real evidence with clear contrast and decision relevance.
Limit: Narrative must not alter or erase uncertainty.
XRAY Stavig-Ellens WFRC
Bob Stavig; Lean/A3 tradition · various · Lean Development; A3 Problem Solving
Translate controlled engineering evidence into leader-owned process change.
Limit: Exact Bob Stavig publication and edition still need library confirmation; A3 is not an XRAY dimension score.
Stavig-Ellens
Eric Ries · 2011 · The Lean Startup
Small, measurable experiments and learning loops.
Limit: Pilot usefulness does not equal scientific validation.
Houston WFRC XRAY
James Clear · 2018 · Atomic Habits
Low-friction individual routines and small steps.
Limit: No implication that habit change repairs system-level defects.
Houston WFRC
Gary Vaynerchuk · 2013 · Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook
Give useful LinkedIn content before commercial invitations.
Limit: Marketing only; not evidence of women’s experiences or XRAY effectiveness.
Houston XRAY
Matthew Dixon & Brent Adamson · 2011 · The Challenger Sale
Buyer conversations that clarify problems and test assumptions.
Limit: For commercial outreach only; never pressure a vulnerable participant.
XRAY Stavig-Ellens
Rob Fitzpatrick · 2013 · The Mom Test
Ask about specific past actions rather than hypothetical praise.
Limit: Interview learning is not population proof.
Houston WFRC
David Maister, Charles Green & Robert Galford · 2000 · The Trusted Advisor
Trust through credibility, reliability, honesty and low self-orientation.
Limit: Do not equate friendliness with actual privacy safeguards.
Houston Stavig-Ellens
Richard Rumelt · 2011 · Good Strategy / Bad Strategy
Diagnose central obstacles, set a guiding policy, focus actions.
Limit: A strategy framework is not an organizational audit.
XRAY Stavig-Ellens
Donella Meadows · 2008 · Thinking in Systems
Feedback loops, leverage points, delayed effects and systemic limits.
Limit: Causal feedback claims need case-specific evidence.
XRAY Stavig-Ellens WFRC
Developed by Darrell Ellens. In testing. Not independently validated.
The research above informs the questions I ask in Houston, XRAY, the Work Fit and Retention Check and Stavig-Ellens. It doesn't validate any score these tools produce, and it can't establish what happened in one woman's workplace.
Houston / Darrell Ellens · 2026 · Houston Workplace Read: the four pressure locations
Separate personal, relational, role/authority and environmental possibilities.
Limit: Internal interpretive map, not external validated research.
Houston WFRC
Darrell Ellens · 2026 · WFRC qualitative reflection and retention check
Make women engineers’ experiences legible without scoring them.
Limit: In testing, not validated; no one-story organizational conclusion.
WFRC
Darrell Ellens · 2026 · XRAY 15-IP, 6-EIP, 24-EIP, 24-C, 10-C
Evidence-graded, permission-scoped diagnostic development.
Limit: Separate instrument governance; public sources cannot fill missing case evidence.
XRAY Stavig-Ellens
Still to add once checked: specific Catalyst, Toronto Metropolitan University Diversity Institute and Ontario Society of Professional Engineers studies, and the exact editions of Bob Stavig's books. Know a source that belongs here? Email darrell@darrellellens.com.