Recently we asked more than 100 senior executive women from around the world to tell us at what stage in their careers they faced the most gender bias or discrimination. Half told us mid-career — that is, roughly their mid-30s to late 40s. Other research we’ve conducted suggests that the intensity of bias at this career stage may come as an unpleasant surprise. In 2021, we surveyed women who had graduated from Harvard Business School 10 to 20 years earlier, and they told us that gender bias against them in the workplace was higher than they had expected it to be when they graduated. White women reported levels of gender bias that were three times as high as what they anticipated, and women of color reported levels that were almost double their expectation. (Perhaps women of color were somewhat more realistic about the level of discrimination in many workplaces.)