Our spring 2026 seminar examined how organizations can build fair and merit-based workplaces, exploring key challenges that undermine fairness as well as potential solutions. 
The seminar series was chaired by Iris Bohnet, featured 10 academic speakers, and was fully virtual. The series aimed to analyze challenges from bias in hiring to barriers in advancement, and to explore effective hiring and promotion interventions, as well as policies and cultural practices that move us closer to equal opportunities for all at work.
Topics included the gendered nature of non-promotable work tasks, combating situational forces that might perpetuate inequality, how supposedly merit-based reward systems can widen the gender pay gap, and ways that gender norms are misperceived around the world.
A full list of speakers and topics is below. Many of the sessions were recorded and are available to watch on the WAPPP YouTube channel.
Choosing and Using Information in Evaluation Decisions with Katherine Coffman
Merit-Based Reward Systems and Gender Wage Inequality with Eunmi Mun
Misperceptions of Gender Norms with David Yanagizawa-Drott
Discrimination, Rejection, and Job Search with Anne Boring
What Data Tells Us About Women 'Having it All' with Corinne Low
Financial Impacts of Reduced Hours for Mothers with Ursina Schaede
"Potential" and the Gender Promotion Gap with Alan Benson
Revaluing Ordinary Moments with Laura Morgan Roberts
Gendered Work: Onset and Consequences with Lise Vesterlund
How “Wallpaper” Creates Inequality: An Approach to Change It with Buju Dasgupta
