The Glass Wall and the Gendered Evaluation of Role Expansion in Freelancing Careers

People pursuing careers outside of organizations often find themselves in a career progression paradox: they need to develop expertise to find new work opportunities, but such expertise is largely acquired through accumulating work experience to which they seldom have access. Extant literature proposed that progressive role expansion—starting one’s career specialized in a single work role and later expanding into new work roles—would be helpful to navigate through such a challenge. However, we propose that when women engage in lateral role expansion within professional careers, they face a glass wall, an invisible barrier that limits their work opportunities due to a gendered evaluation of role expansion. Specifically, role expansion by female freelancers is seen as less agentic than by male freelancers, and such difference undermines the perceived competence and commitment of female freelancers. Across three studies using different methods (archival data and experiment), industries (music and film), and samples (Korean and American), we find female freelancers who expand into a new work role are seen as less agentic and have a lower chance of finding new work opportunities than men who expand. Although women who pursue careers outside of organizations may become unshackled from gender biases embedded within traditional organizational hierarchies, we suggest that they still face substantial obstacles in the new forms of work.