While men were more often assigned attributes such as analytical, competent, athletic and dependable, women were more often assigned compassionate, enthusiastic, energetic and organized. Consistent with our results, societal attitudes suggest that women leaders are described as more compassionate the most assigned attribute overall and organized than men leaders. In contrast, women were more often evaluated as inept, frivolous, gossip, excitable, scattered, temperamental, panicky, and indecisive, while men were more often evaluated as arrogant and irresponsible.
These are not just words — they can have real-life implications for employees and organizations. Language in performance evaluations can tell us what is valued and what is not in an organization. Employees also know what is valued and make choices and decisions about how well they fit in an organization and their potential to advance. Our research is in line with other studies that have found differences in formal feedback for men and women.
Because of widely held societal beliefs about gender roles and leadership, when most people are asked to picture a leader , what they picture is a male leader.
You have 1 free article s left this month. You are reading your last free article for this month. Subscribe for unlimited access. Create an account to read 2 more. Smith, Judith E. Miss "I Have Daddy Issues" : This woman usually dates older men and deep down is looking for a father figure, not a boyfriend or husband.
Initially, her guy might like how she looks to him for approval and the answer to all of her questions, but soon, he realizes that he wants to have sex with a real woman, not someone who is stuck in her teen years trying to get Daddy to notice her.
When a guy first meets her, he thinks it's nice that she is so close to her family, but soon, he finds it to be way too much. A man just doesn't want to have to ask her mother's permission about things in his life. She loves to gossip and talk about other people and she loves to hear things about other people as well. Initially when a guy meets her, he might be entertained by her anecdotes but eventually, he begins to wonder what she is saying behind his back.
She is constantly talking about what the other people do and what the other people have. This places a lot of undue pressure on her guy and eventually, he justs gets fed up that she can't appreciate what they have instead of wishing she was someone else.
Miss "I Don't Eat" : This woman picks at her food, is on a never-ending diet or doesn't eat pretty much everything that most people eat. When a man first meets her, he thinks to himself, at least she will never become overweight , but eventually he realizes that it's no fun to eat alone. The fact is men like to eat; they like steak, they like trying different foods, they like dessert and women should be eating too, at least sometimes.
Keep in mind that most men just want a happy and easy going woman who has good values, so just focus on putting the best YOU out there. Can you think of any other types of women that are unattractive to men? Most of this is unconscious.
Stereotyping is a type of cognitive shortcut. So we use those cognitive shortcuts in order to guide our behavior. The downside of stereotypes is that all of those associations that we make, while they might be right and they might be useful, they might also be wrong. So if you walk into a meeting assessing a woman, you might immediately associate feminine characteristics as being more communal and less aggressive.
Wofford : So even though these things sort of spring into mind subconsciously, they can still affect how you respond to a given situation? Fleming : Right. Wofford : Here come some more: controlling, nurturing, bitchy, soft, timid, communicative, sweet, nice, intelligent, weak, sensitive. I can see some more are continuing to roll in, but what you see is that many of the stereotypes fall into what we call communal characteristics.
And then you see that people list all of these negative words that are applied to women when they violate that communal stereotype. Fleming : For males, it would be an asset. Those prescriptive stereotypes are what give rise to the comments we saw in the chat box. Controlling, too assertive, pushy, those kinds of things.
When it comes to stereotypes about leaders, they tend to fall into the masculine category. Numerous studies across many different countries, different age groups, etc. They think of those male characteristics. So when you see that aggressive male leader — confident, intelligent, decisive, exercising authority — the world feels right.
In contrast, when you consider a female leader, you have inconsistent stereotypes being triggered. A female leader is supposed to be strong and authoritative, know her stuff, hold her ground and speak her mind, but while doing that, she is simultaneously also supposed to come off as sweet, supportive, nice, communal, kind and gentle — all of those expectations of what an appropriate woman is supposed to be.
That inconsistency contributes to prejudice against female leaders. That creates what we call the Double Bind, which is having to walk a tightrope between being simultaneously assertive and smart in order to be seen as competent while simultaneously being nice and warm in order to meet stereotypes of communality. Let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment below. Contact Us. Written by. Kirsty Trafford-Owen Co-founder and Director.
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