An extensive literature on gender status inequality in the workplace shows how such inequality disadvantages women, particularly high-status women. While important, this focus has shed limited light on the experiences of lower occupational status women. For these women, a novel challenge is attaining status in occupations where they must simultaneously navigate two institutional hierarchies linked to lower status—gender and occupation. Drawing from interviews with 42 nurses, we present a model illustrating what we refer to as “associative status elevation” dynamics between low and high occupational status women. Our model highlights how organizational and occupational systems characterized by high gender and occupational status inequality set the stage for low-status women’s need for status elevation and explains how such need shapes low-status women’s interactions with high-status actors, particularly high-status women. The findings shed new light on gender dynamics in the workplace, reveal a novel explanation for tensions and expectations between women collaborating across occupations, and suggest new avenues for research at the intersection of gender and occupational status inequality in the workplace.
