You probably knew this anecdotally, but now there is research to back up the notion that saying  “no” in the workplace is harder for women than for men and is more likely to carry a cost for them later.

Katharine O’Brien, a postdoctoral research associate at the Baylor School of Medicine, has conducted studies on gender differences in the ability to decline workplace requests, according to a recent article published by the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

In a survey of more than 900 people almost evenly split between male and female, both genders said they believe women find it more difficult than men to say “no” when asked to help with something.

A second study, which sought to learn why women are more likely to say “yes” than “no” to requests than men are, revealed that social norms play a major role.

“Women typically are regarded as nurturers and helpers, so saying ‘no’ runs against the grain of what might be expected of them,” O’Brien explained.
 

Furthermore, women who turn down requests experienced worse performance evaluations and fewer recommendations for promotions, and were considered less likable when they did not behave communally, O’Brien said.

It’s true that women need to say “yes” to more leadership opportunities, but they also need to learn to say “no” to requests that distract them from their best performance or contribute to them becoming overworked and unable to do anything well.

The BizWomen section of BusinessJournals.com asked readers how they gracefully say no. Check out what those readers had to say.