A Woman's Place
Getting a Word in Group-wise: Effects of Racial Diversity on Gender Dynamics
Negin Toosi, Samuel Sommers & Nalini Ambady
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
In three studies, we examined the effects of racial diversity on gender dynamics in small mixed-sex groups. In all-White groups in Study 1, White men spoke significantly more than White women and were rated as more persuasive; however, in racially-diverse groups, White women and White men spent equal amounts of time speaking and were rated as equally persuasive. Video clips of the group members were rated for confidence and anxiety in Study 2, and Study 3 explored more directly how group composition shapes individuals' perceptual and cognitive tendencies. Members of diverse groups were perceived as more anxious than members of all-White groups, and White women were perceived as more anxious than White men. However, White women in diverse groups showed increasing confidence over time. These results suggest that racial diversity has benefits beyond just racial inclusion: it may also promote greater gender equality.
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Tanja Hundhammer & Thomas Mussweiler
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Scripts for sexual behavior dictate that women be submissive and tender and that men be assertive and dominant, reflecting the stereotypical view of women as communal and of men as agentic. Six experiments tested the hypothesis that exposure to sexuality cues causes men's and women's momentary self-perceptions and concomitant behavior to become more gender-typical. Using both pictorial and verbal prime materials that were presented both supraliminally and subliminally, we found that sex-priming strengthened gender-based self-perceptions (i.e., faster self-categorization as a woman or man; Study 1), heightened identification with one's own gender (Study 2), increased gender self-stereotyping (Study 3), and elicited greater submissiveness in women's behavior and greater assertiveness in men's behavior (Studies 4 and 5). These findings indicate that sex-priming causes self-perception and social behavior to become "attuned" to gender stereotypes. Study 6 demonstrated that these sex-priming effects can be eliminated by modern gender role primes. The potentially detrimental effects of sex-priming and possible countermeasures are discussed.
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Empowering Women Through Education: Evidence from Sierra Leone
Naci Mocan & Colin Cannonier
NBER Working Paper, April 2012
Abstract:
We use data from Sierra Leone where a substantial education program provided increased access to education for primary-school age children but did not benefit children who were older. We exploit the variation in access to the program generated by date of birth and the variation in resources between various districts of the country. We find that the program has increased educational attainment and that an increase in education has changed women's preferences. An increase in schooling, triggered by the program, had an impact on women's attitudes towards matters that impact women's health and on attitudes regarding violence against women. An increase in education has also reduced the number of desired children by women and increased their propensity to use modern contraception and to be tested for AIDS. While education makes women more intolerant of practices that conflict with their well-being, increased education has no impact on men's attitudes towards women's well-being.
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Selecting your boss: Sex, age, IQ and EQ factors
Adrian Furnham, Alistair McClelland & Angela Mansi
Personality and Individual Differences, forthcoming
Abstract:
This paper set out to examine the way people weigh information when making upward decisions as to who they would like as a boss. One hundred and sixty seven participants rank ordered 16 potential bosses in a 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 design that differentiated between the sex, age, level (high vs. average) IQ and EQ scores of possible candidates. Results of the within participants ANOVA showed no significant preference for gender or age of a boss but a strong preference for high EQ and IQ, with EQ more powerful that IQ. Significant interactions showed that participants favoured young, male bosses and old, female bosses over old, male bosses and young, female bosses. A between participant analysis showed as predicted, female over male respondents favoured a high EQ in their boss. The gender bias in selection committees may strongly influence the weighting given to different characteristics sought. This indicates the value of social skills and emotional intelligence at work.
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Second-Order Gender Effects: The Case of U.S. Small Business Borrowing Cost
Zhenyu Wu & Jess Chua
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, May 2012, Pages 443-463
Abstract:
Gender-based differential treatment of business borrowers has been illegal for decades now. Therefore, any remaining gender effect is likely to be more subtle than before and second order in nature. Using 1,577 small businesses from the 2003 National Survey of Small Business Finances by the Federal Reserve Board, resolving the gender assignment problem, and isolating the supply effects, our tests detected a second-order gender effect in U.S. small business borrowing cost. Specifically, lenders charge female sole proprietorships an average of 73 basis points higher than male sole proprietorships. The methodology also ameliorates an interpretation problem common to first-order gender effects.
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Mark Landau et al.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Why do people sometimes view others as objects rather than complete persons? We propose that when people desire successful interactions with others, yet feel uncertain about their ability to navigate others' subjectivity, they downplay others' subjective attributes, focusing instead on their concrete attributes. This account suggests that objectification represents a response to uncertainty about one's ability to successfully interact with others distinct from: instrumentalizing others in response to power; dehumanizing others in response to threat; and simplifying others in response to general uncertainty. Supporting this account: When uncertainty about navigating women's subjectivity was salient, men showed increased sexual objectification to the extent that they desired successful interactions with women (Study 1) and were primed to view such interactions as self-esteem relevant (Study 2). In a workplace scenario, participants made uncertain about their managerial ability felt less confident about their ability to navigate employees' subjectivity and, consequently, role-objectified employees (Study 3).
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Victor Lavy
Economic Journal, forthcoming
Abstract:
Recent lab and field experiments suggest that women are less effective than men in a competitive environment. I examined how teachers' performance is affected by a competitive environment and its gender mix. Teachers participated in a tournament that provided cash bonuses based on test performance of their classes. I find no evidence of gender differences in performance under competition in any gender mix environment, or in teachers' knowledge of the program and in effort and teaching methods. Women however were more pessimistic about the effectiveness of teachers' performance pay, and more realistic than men about their likelihood of winning bonuses.
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Female Employment and Divorce: Taking Into Account a Social Multiplier
Michael Neugart
Mathematical Population Studies, Spring 2012, Pages 63-72
Abstract:
A model of interactions of marriage and labor markets, taking into account a feedback process from aggregate divorce rates on individuals' decisions, explains why small changes in men's attitudes towards sharing the breadwinner role with their wives may change female labor force participation rates and divorce rates considerably.
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Skirting the Issues: Experimental Evidence of Gender Bias in IPO Prospectus Evaluations
Lyda Bigelow et al.
Journal of Management, forthcoming
Abstract:
Given the increasing number of women executives in the top management teams of initial public offering (IPO) firms, the lack of female-led IPO firms is a curious fact, especially since women-owned private businesses represent almost half of the new businesses formed in the United States, with patterns of founding similar to those of male-owned businesses. This lack of female-led IPOs suggests a potentially larger problem - a gender-based capital gap for new ventures. Given the empirical evidence suggesting a positive association between the presence of female executives and firm performance, the authors test whether investor perceptions are aligned with these empirical patterns. Using a sample of MBA students, the authors construct a simulated IPO, manipulating the gender demographics of the top management team. Their results suggest that female CEOs may be disproportionately disadvantaged in their ability to attract growth capital, when all other factors are controlled. Despite identical personal qualifications and firm financials, female founders/CEOs were perceived as less capable than their male counterparts, and IPOs led by female founders/CEOs were considered less attractive investments.
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Tessa West et al.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
The present research examined how a group's gender composition influences intragroup evaluations. Group members evaluated fellow group members and the group as a whole following a shared task. As predicted, no performance differences were found as a function of gender composition, but judgments of individuals' task contributions, the group's effectiveness, and desire to work with one's group again measured at a 10-week follow-up were increasingly negative as the proportion of women in the group increased. Negative judgments were consistently directed at male and female group members as indicated by no gender of target effects, demonstrating that men, simply by working alongside women, can be detrimentally affected by negative stereotypes about women. Implications for gender diversity in the workplace are discussed.
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The Gender Gap in Educational Expectations Among Youth in the Foster Care System
Chris Michael Kirk et al.
Children and Youth Services Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
Youth in the foster care system are at greater risk for a host of aversive outcomes including diminished educational performance and attainment. While these issues are well-documented, less is known about gender differences on academic outcomes for these students. Over the past three decades, women have overtaken men in college attendance and post-secondary degree attainment. Research suggests that this gender gap may be greater among marginalized groups, including youth emerging from the foster care system. Using data from a statewide sample of adolescents in foster care, the current study explores the effect of gender on educational expectations and measures gender differences in college efficacy, academic functioning, and preparation for post-secondary education. After controlling for race/ethnicity and grade level, logistic regression models showed the females in foster care reported more than twice the likelihood of achieving a Bachelor's or graduate degree. Comparisons between genders revealed that females had higher reported academic performance than males, with males making greater gains in educational expectations after participating in a college access program. Limitations and suggestions for future research and action are discussed.
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Understanding Gendered Variations in Business Growth Intentions Across the Life Course
Amy Davis & Kelly Shaver
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, May 2012, Pages 495-512
Abstract:
This article investigates differences in growth intentions of men and women entrepreneurs. Using data from the U.S. Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics I and II, we test hypotheses informed by life course theory regarding the influence of career stage and family status on high growth intentions of men and women entrepreneurs. Results show that young men are especially likely to express high growth intentions, while mothers expressed high growth intentions more frequently than did other women.
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Gender and Perceptions of Candidate Competency
Rebekah Herrick et al.
Journal of Women, Politics & Policy, Spring 2012, Pages 126-150
Abstract:
Following an innovative study showing rapid inferences about the competence of candidates based on photos correlated with electoral success, we examine the effects of the sex of the subjects and candidates on these results. Our results indicate that the relationship between inferences of competence and electoral success are more complex than previously believed. We found a gender gap in evaluations of competence and maturity of candidate faces and in support for women candidates; however, an overall preference among all subjects for men candidates. Additionally, the relationship between competence and victory is affected by a host of variables unconsidered previously.
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Myths and Realities of Female-Perpetrated Terrorism
Karen Jacques & Paul Taylor
Law and Human Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
The authors examined the backgrounds and social experiences of female terrorists to test conflicting accounts of the etiology of this offending group. Data on 222 female terrorists and 269 male terrorists were examined across 8 variables: age at first involvement, educational achievement, employment status, immigration status, marital status, religious conversion, criminal activity, and activist connections. The majority of female terrorists were found to be single, young (<35 years old), native, employed, educated to at least secondary level, and rarely involved in criminality. Compared with their male counterparts, female terrorists were equivalent in age, immigration profile, and role played in terrorism, but they were more likely to have a higher education attainment, less likely to be employed, and less likely to have prior activist connections. The results clarify the myths and realities of female-perpetrated terrorism and suggest that the risk factors associated with female involvement are distinct from those associated with male involvement.
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Globalization and gender equality in the course of development
Niklas Potrafke & Heinrich Ursprung
European Journal of Political Economy, December 2012, Pages 399-413
Abstract:
We empirically assess the influence of globalization on social institutions that govern female subjugation and gender equality in developing countries. Observing the progress of globalization for almost one hundred developing countries at ten year intervals starting in 1970, we find that economic and social globalization exert a decidedly positive influence on the social institutions that reduce female subjugation and promote gender equality.
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Kathleen Fallon, Liam Swiss & Jocelyn Viterna
American Sociological Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
Increasing levels of democratic freedoms should, in theory, improve women's access to political positions. Yet studies demonstrate that democracy does little to improve women's legislative representation. To resolve this paradox, we investigate how variations in the democratization process - including pre-transition legacies, historical experiences with elections, the global context of transition, and post-transition democratic freedoms and quotas - affect women's representation in developing nations. We find that democratization's effect is curvilinear. Women in non-democratic regimes often have high levels of legislative representation but little real political power. When democratization occurs, women's representation initially drops, but with increasing democratic freedoms and additional elections, it increases again. The historical context of transition further moderates these effects. Prior to 1995, women's representation increased most rapidly in countries transitioning from civil strife - but only when accompanied by gender quotas. After 1995 and the Beijing Conference on Women, the effectiveness of quotas becomes more universal, with the exception of post-communist countries. In these nations, quotas continue to do little to improve women's representation. Our results, based on pooled time series analysis from 1975 to 2009, demonstrate that it is not democracy - as measured by a nation's level of democratic freedoms at a particular moment in time-but rather the democratization process that matters for women's legislative representation.
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Stigma consciousness and prejudice ambiguity: Can it be adaptive to perceive the world as biased?
Katie Wang, Katherine Stroebe & John Dovidio
Personality and Individual Differences, forthcoming
Abstract:
The psychological impact of perceived discrimination varies significantly depending on the extent to which targets expect to be stereotyped (e.g., their level of stigma consciousness). The present research investigated the moderating effect of stigma consciousness on women's cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses to gender discrimination that differed in the level of situational ambiguity. Female participants imagined themselves applying for and failing to receive a desired job from a male interviewer, whose description was manipulated to reflect blatant or ambiguous prejudice. Participants higher in stigma consciousness were more likely to attribute their failure to prejudice, especially when the situation was ambiguous. Stigma consciousness predicted both other-directed emotions and active coping in response to ambiguous prejudice. Thus, while stigma consciousness has typically been associated with negative outcomes, the present research reveals that it may also have adaptive effects. The implications of these results for being chronically sensitive to stigmatization are discussed.
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Gender policing: Harassment judgments when men target other men
Richard Wiener et al.
Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, May 2012, Pages 245-267
Abstract:
This research treated the self-referencing theory, which explains judgments that perceivers make about sexual harassment complaints as a specific case of the general person-environment fit model. The research examined the effects of workplace gender distribution (situation variable) and gender of the judge (person variable) on the manner in which people determine whether male-to-male misconduct constitutes harassment. We presented the fact pattern from a litigated case to 53 female and 53 male people working in a Midwest community and varied whether the workforce was male dominated (90% men) or nearly balanced (55% men). Results showed that men exposed to a male worker who complained about another man's behavior in a male-dominated workplace used themselves as reference points and found less evidence of harassment than did those exposed to the same conduct in a balanced workplace. While women workers also showed evidence of self-referencing, the gender balance in the workplace did not influence their judgments. The results of the study show how self-referencing models can expand person-fit approaches to include explanations of harassment judgments and the need to examine systematically the role of perspective taking in the perception of sexual harassment.
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Vishal Gupta, Daniel Turban & Ashish Pareek
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, forthcoming
Abstract:
Opportunity evaluation represents a core aspect of the entrepreneurial process. Prior research suggests that evaluation of new opportunities is influenced by biases rooted in subjective beliefs, values, and assumptions. In the present study, we used stereotype activation theory to propose that respondent gender (men-women), content of stereotype (masculine-feminine), and the manner in which stereotype information is presented (subtle-blatant) interact to influence evaluations of a new business opportunity. We found that both masculine and feminine stereotype activation influenced men and women's evaluation of a business opportunity differently depending upon whether the stereotype was blatantly or subtly activated. Our results indicate that gender stereotype activation can both boost and impede men and women's subsequent actions on entrepreneurial tasks such as opportunity evaluation, depending on the content of the stereotype and the manner in which it is presented. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.
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Christian Cook & Blair Crewther
Physiology & Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
We examined the effect of different pre-match motivational interventions on athlete free testosterone (T) and cortisol (C) concentrations and subsequent match performance in professional rugby union. Male participants (n = 12) playing at a senior or academy level in rugby union were recruited and each completed three interventions (15 min each) before a competitive game; 1) watching a video clip of successful skill execution by the player with positive coach feedback [VPCF1]; 2) watching a video clip of successful skill execution by an opposing player with cautionary coach feedback [VCCF], 3) the player left alone to self-motivate [SM1]. The first and last interventions were retested [VPCF2 and SM2]. Salivary free T and C measures were taken pre-intervention and pre-game. Within each game, players were rated by coaching staff on a key performance indicator (KPI) from identified skills and an overall performance indicator (OPI), where 1 = best performance to 5 = worst performance. The VPCF1 and VPCF2 interventions both promoted significant T responses (11.8% to 12.5%) before each game and more so than SM1, SM2 and VCCF. The VCCF approach produced the largest C response (17.6%) and this differed from all other treatments. The VPCF interventions were also associated with better game KPI (1.5 to 1.8) and OPI ratings (1.7 to 1.8) than SM1, SM2 and/or VCCF. Across all treatments, greater individual T responses and lower C responses were associated with better KPI and OPI outcomes. In conclusion, the pre-game presentation of motivational strategies to athletes involving specific video footage and coach feedback produced different outcomes on two indicators of match performance, which were also associated with changes in free hormonal state.