Ramapo College of New Jersey Psychology Professor Dr. Leah Warner has developed a board game designed to help college students recognize and confront gender bias in the workplace, according to an announcement on Mar. 31.
The project aims to provide an engaging and less confrontational way for students to learn about the cumulative effects of gender inequality at work. Warner, along with Dr. Jessica Cundiff from Missouri University of Science and Technology, created the Workshop Activity for Gender Equity-Classroom (WAGES-Classroom), which draws on over one hundred research studies related to workplace inequality.
“It teaches students about how gender bias in the workplace occurs through the process of the game. It is actually drawn from over one hundred research studies on how inequality occurs in the workplace,” Warner said. The two professors recently published a study on WAGES-Classroom in Psychology of Women Quarterly.
Warner said that many existing bias trainings lack empirical evaluation, but their approach is different: “We are really trying to add to the literature to say, here is an empirically-validated way to teach people about how inequality works in a way that’s engaging, decreases defensiveness, and actually leads people to do things to change.”
Longitudinal studies conducted by Warner and her students found that participants who played WAGES-Classroom were more likely than those who simply read information about gender bias “to talk to someone about it,” “learn more,” or “take any actions” at work based on what they learned. “Those that played the game were actually more likely to do that, than those just simply reading the information,” Warner explained.
The gameplay involves splitting players into two teams representing different genders without revealing this detail upfront; players use dinosaur figurines as pieces and draw scenario cards reflecting real-life inequities such as wage gaps or microaggressions. As described by Warner and Cundiff in their publication: “Advantages given to the white/yellow team are subtle and seemingly innocuous at first but accumulate… Thus students come to discover knowledge about gender bias on their own as the game unfolds.”
Warner also involved Ramapo students extensively during five years of development through literature reviews, writing scenarios, running efficacy studies, teaching others using structured discussions, and presenting research findings. She said this experience was rewarding both for her and her psychology students: “Students not only got to run a study… they also had to learn how to teach… so the students both conducted a study and taught other students about this phenomenon.”
A professional version of WAGES-Classroom is available for Ramapo faculty use; free PDF copies can be requested by anyone interested.
WAGES-Classroom has received support from organizations including grants from Society for Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) Action Teaching Grant and Association for Psychological Science (APS) Teaching Grant. Warner herself earned SPSSI’s Action Teaching Award as well as its Teaching Innovation Award for social science inquiry.
In addition, Warner was recognized with Ramapo College’s 2025 Henry Bischoff Excellence in Teaching Award alongside Assistant Professor Indya Jackson and Associate Professor Sanghamitra Padhy.
