In order to show her capabilities, Joyce brought along letters of recommendation, professional references and her resume to the interview. This was important because it showed how Joyce met all of the requirements for the Vice President position.  The position required 10 years working as a manager in a publishing firm and a Master’s degree; through her resume Joyce showed that she had 11 years working as a manager in a publishing firm and also that she received her Master’s degree.  Joyce was fully qualified for the position. Her letters of recommendation highlighted her accomplishments through people that would recommend her work, while her professional references were people who were willing to positively speak on Joyce’s behalf.  Both Joyce’s letters of recommendation and professional references showed that she had succeeded in her work. If Joyce did not have a strong working ethic and the ability to develop and maintain professional interpersonal relationships with others, she would have neither the letters of recommendation, nor the references to show in the interview.  This is an important consideration in fairly evaluating Joyce.  Since she was not given a fair chance to showcase these abilities in the interview, her documentation provides testament to her abilities.

By providing this documentation to Carl during the interview, Joyce gives concrete evidence not just that she meets all of the position’s qualifications, but that her qualifications are substantiated by other professionals.  In doing so, she denies Carl the possibility of claiming she isn’t fully qualified, or that he wasn’t aware of her qualifications.  Nor can Carl deny the strength of her candidacy without calling into question all the other professionals’ recommendations.  This leaves the burden on Carl to prove he’s acting in the company’s best interest and fairly evaluating the applicants, or to risk Title VII discrimination litigation.   

Everyone is affected by their past experiences since it is from them that perceptions are formed.  Men’s and women’s role perceptions begin to take shape in the family since parents are the first role models available to make sense of the differences between the two genders.  These early perceptions are significant because they are the foundation of a person’s gender schema.  Once that abstract knowledge structure is in place, people tend to apply their schema’s preconceived notions to other men and women they encounter in any context, even outside the family environment, in a such a way that the schema reinforces itself.  Thus, role perceptions carry over from families to the workplace and are difficult to overcome.  Although schemas can be altered, “a considerable amount of contradictory information needs to be encountered for people to change their schemas”.  In the interview scenario, it is evident from Carl’s resistant reactions that Joyce is contradicting and challenging his preconceived ideas about women.

Both Carl and Joyce both fit into the widespread and common gender schemas of white, middle-class Americans. That gender schema suggests that men in this group are assertive, independent and task-focused while women are nurturing, expressive and people-oriented. Although these suggestions may not be accurate, the implication by society has resulted in the perception that these traits fit all white, middle-class American men and women. While men may have been the more dominant character, the customs of society have changed toward making men and women equal in perspective. The problem with this is that while society is moving forward, some perspectives of men being the breadwinners and women being the housewives are still evident.  “Inaccurate schemas and perceptual biases can lead well-meaning managers and organizational members to unintentionally discriminate against others due to their inaccurate perceptions.” In this situation, Carl clearly is returning to his family setting where his wife stays at home while he makes a living. Joyce’s situation is more modern in that she can tackle both sets of characteristics, the breadwinner and the housewife, which Carl does not see possible, or does not want to see possible.
