Activity
• Once upon a time there was a math contest….
• John received a letter in the mail notifying him that he had lost
the Texas State Achievement in Math Competition. He had
wanted to win and was unhappy with the results. He had been
the best student in his math class last year. Losing really hurt his
self-esteem. He found out that Terry Browning had done better
than him. He hated Terry Browning for that. To make himself
feel better he cried, baked cookies, beat pillows, kicked
something, took a long bath, and talked to his best friend. After
that, he went to the mall where he shopped and played video
games in the arcade until he had beaten all the records. He then
went running and came home to watch The Princess Bride.
He’s a Powerful Leader, She’s a Battle-Ax:
Understanding the Implications of
Biases Against Women Leaders
Crystal L. Hoyt
University of Richmond
Female Leaders
• Limited access to elite leadership
positions
– Women represent 46% US workforce
• They hold 6% executive titles
– CEO, Chairwoman, Executive Vice
President
• Less than 10 women CEOs in Fortune 500
Companies
Female Leaders
• Women in elective office (2005)
– 81 women serve in the U.S.
Congress (15.1%)
– 14 of the 100 seats in the Senate
(14.0%)
– 67 of the 435 seats in the House
of Representatives (15.4%)
• Stereotypes and discrimination
may prevent ascent up the
organizational ladder
Gender Stereotypes and the
Leadership Role
MEN
WOMEN
AGENTIC
COMMUNAL
•Aggressive
•Forceful
•Independent
•Decisive
•Kind
•Helpful
•Sympathetic
•Concerned for others
Good Leadership is a Manly Business
….or so many think….
• Think-leader—think-male stereotype
– Good leaders are described with masculine attributes
– Stereotypically male qualities are thought necessary to
being a successful leader
• Role Congruity Theory:
– The agentic qualities deemed necessary in the leadership
role are incompatible with the communal qualities
associated with women (Eagly & Karau, 2002)
Commander in Chief
Commander in Chief
• “This Fall, a female will be
President.”
• “A female president. Can't you
smell the history?”
President Mackenzie Allen
• “She isn’t a woman, she’s the
President.”
Role Incongruity
• "It seemed that people could
perceive me only as one thing or
the other - either a hardworking
professional woman or a
conscientious and caring hostess
... It was becoming clear to me
that people who wanted me to
fit into a certain box,
traditionalist or feminist, would
never be entirely satisfied with
me - which is to say, with my
many different, and sometimes
paradoxical, roles ...
Impact of these Biases
• The think-leader-think-male stereotype has
important implications for both
– 1) The perceptions and evaluations of women
leaders
– 2) The responses of the leaders themselves.
Biased Perceptions and Evaluations
Biased Perceptions and Evaluations
(Duncan, 1976)
– One person shoved the
other.
•Interpretation of the shove as violent:
80
70
Percentage
• White students observed
staged argument between
a Black and White man
60
50
White Shover
Black Shover
40
30
20
10
0
Perceived as Violent
Biased Perceptions and Evaluations
• Women are presumed to be less competent
leaders than men and less worthy of the
leadership position across a variety of contexts
• Women are evaluated less favorably when they
demonstrate behaviors that fulfill prescriptions
of the leader role
Biased Perceptions
• “I don’t really believe that men and
women manage differently….
People might expect women to be
more sensitive so they see what they
expect to see.”
– Shelly Lazarus
– Chairwoman and CEO, Ogilvy & Mather
Worldwide
Biased Perceptions
• He is ‘assertive’; she is ‘aggressive’ or ‘hostile’.
• He ‘lost his cool’, implying it was an aberration;
she's ‘emotional’ or ‘menopausal’.
• Thus, her behavior is devalued, even when it is
the same as his. (Bernice Sandler, 1988)
Attitudes Toward Female Leaders
• People prefer male bosses over female bosses, and
consider males better suited for the position of
president (Gallup poll, 2000)
Male
President
Female
President
Either
President
42%
31%
22%
Male Boss
Female
Boss
Either
Boss
48%
22%
28%
Attitudes Toward Female Leaders
• There is still intolerance for women in political roles
(General Social Survey)
“Women should take care of running their homes
and leave running the country up to men”
Agreement: 15%
“Most men are better suited emotionally for politics Agreement: 22%
than are most women”
Women and Access to Leader Roles:
Empirical Support
• Hypothetical applicants
(hiring and promotion
studies)
– Resumes and application
information identical
except for the name
– People prefer males for
leadership positions
Jane Smith
John Smith
• Physical attractiveness
– Attractive women
applicants evaluated less
favorably for managerial
positions but more
favorably for nonmanagerial jobs
Women and Access to Leader Roles:
Empirical Support
• Feminine clothing
– Extremely feminine or
masculine clothing elicits
more negative
evaluations than
moderate dress
• Perfume
– People wearing a
masculine perfume
hired with more
certainty than
those with
feminine perfume
Women and Access to Leader Roles:
Empirical Support
• Responding to classified ads
– Male and female students respond to sex
mismatched ads
• Responses:
– Refusals
• “Honey, I’m sorry, but we need a man to do that”
– The position is filled (not really)
– Discouraging reaction
• “It’s hard to believe that a guy is really qualified for
this work”
Women Elicit Disapproval for
Behaving Assertively
“When a woman makes a gesture, the
same gesture as a man, it’s interpreted
entirely differently. The thing I
struggled with the most was getting a
big sound from the brass because you
really have to be strong. But if you’re
too strong, you’re a b-i-t-c-h. As a
woman, you have to be careful that it’s
not too harsh. It’s a subtle line.”
• Marin Alsop, Conductor
Women Elicit Disapproval for
Behaving Assertively
Women Elicit Disapproval for
Behaving Assertively
• Women’s competent task contributions more
likely to be ignored or given negative reactions
• Males prefer females who are more tentative (tag
questions, disclaimers) in their speech
Women Elicit Disapproval for
Behaving Assertively
• Self-promoting good for men, damaging to
women
– Self-promoting (as opposed to self-effacing) women
were seen as less likable, attractive, and hireable
Female Leader Effectiveness
• In experimental studies holding leadership
performance constant (just varying gender)
– Women leaders evaluated worse than men
• Especially in male-dominated leadership roles
• Especially when the evaluators were male
• Especially when they led in a masculine style
Female Leader Effectiveness
• Pregnancy
– Pregnant female leaders evaluated
worse than non-pregnant women
• Attractiveness
– Attractive female leaders evaluated
worse
– Attractive male leaders evaluated better
Leaders’ Responses to the Stereotypes
Stereotype Threat
Anecdotal Evidence
“When I talk in class, I feel as though I’m totally on stage, like everyone’s
thinking, ‘oh what’s the Black girl going to say?’ ”
—Stanford Undergraduate
“I knew I was just as intelligent as everyone else... but for some
reason I didn’t score well on tests. Maybe I was just nervous. There’s
a lot of pressure on you, knowing that if you fail, you fail your race.”
—Black State Senator, Rodney Ellis (TX)
Leaders’ Responses to the Stereotypes
• Stereotype Threat
– The way individuals feel when they are at risk of confirming a
negative stereotype about their group
– Can undermine cognitive performance
“Math Class
is Tough!”
"I love
shopping"
“Let’s plan our
dream wedding”
“Will we ever have
enough clothes?"
"Meet me
at the mall"
Leaders’ Responses to the Stereotypes
25
20
Math
Performance
15
Stereotype
Control
10
5
0
Women
Men
(Spencer, Steele, & Quinn, 1999)
Stereotypes
and
Multiple
Identities
Stereotypes and Multiple Identities
Not Good at Math
Good at Math
Stereotype Threat and Women Leaders
Davies, Spencer, Steele, 2005
• Exposure to genderstereotypic TV commercials
undermined female
participants leadership
aspirations on an upcoming
task.
Stereotypes May Not
Always be Threatening
• Some people behave in manner inconsistent
with stereotype
• Women explicitly primed with the stereotype of
female inferiority in negotiations, outperformed
male participants (Kray, Thompson, & Galinsky, 2001)
Leadership Confidence and Self-efficacy
• Confidence is a critical
component of effective
leadership (Rosabeth Moss Kanter)
• Leadership Self-efficacy
– One’s perception regarding his
or her general capabilities to
lead
Stereotype Vulnerability vs
Stereotype Reactance
LOW EFFICACY LEADERS
HIGH EFFICACY LEADERS
Stereotype Vulnerability
Stereotype Reactance
•Lower perceived & rated performance
•Higher perceived & rated performance
•Lower leadership identification
•Higher leadership identification
•Lower psychological well-being
•Higher psychological well-being
Predicted Pattern of Results
Performance
Leadership
Identification
Stereotype
Control
Psychological
Well-Being
Low
Efficacy
High
Efficacy
Research Findings
• Leadership self-efficacy moderates the following
responses to stereotype activation:
– Perceived and actual performance
– Domain identification
– Well-being (self-esteem and depressed affect)
• Low efficacy leaders: More malign responses
• High efficacy leaders: More benign responses
In Conclusion
Biases against women leaders affect:
• 1) Perceptions and evaluations of women leaders
– Women are presumed to be less competent leaders than men
and less worthy of the leadership position across a variety of
contexts
– Women are evaluated less favorably when they demonstrate
behaviors that fulfill prescriptions of the leader role
• 2) Responses of the leaders themselves
– Stereotypes have the potential to threaten some women, but
also have the potential to impel some women to react against it.