Implicitly idealizing men as rescuers dampens women’s career ambition

Evidence

Traditionally, romance has idealized femininity, placing women “on a pedestal.” However, it may also teach them (e.g., through romantic fairytales) to depend on men for economic and social rewards. In particular, the romantic idealization of men as chivalric rescuers of women (e.g., Prince Charming) might encourage women to seek their fortune indirectly, through men. If so, romantic fantasies might be negatively linked to women’s interest in personal power. Consistent with this hypothesis, Rudman and Heppen (2003) found that even women who were reluctant to explicitly associate male romantic partners with chivalry (e.g., Prince Charming, White Knight, protector, hero) demonstrated this association implicitly (on the IAT). Furthermore, women who possessed implicit romantic beliefs also showed less interest in personal power, across multiple measures. For example, women with high IAT scores expected to make less income in their careers, and had lower educational goals. They also showed less interest in prestigious occupations (e.g., CEOs, corporate lawyers, and politicians), and were less willing to volunteer for a leadership role in an upcoming experiment. Taken together, the results provide tentative support for a possible “glass-slipper” effect, such that women who implicitly idealize men may be more interested in pursuing power indirectly, through their romantic relationships, than by seeking their own fortunes. Because romantic ideologies are subjectively pro-female, they represent an important example of how women can be co-opted by benevolent sexism in ways that can be harmful for gender equity. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 771

Categorization

• XREF: The glass-slipper effect parallels the ADDENDUM piece on sacrifice — chivalric rescue is a reciprocal exchange fantasy that trades agency for protection.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: has the Rudman and Heppen (2003) IAT finding been replicated or challenged in the two decades since?
• SEED: A piece on ‘the glass slipper effect’ as a counterpoint to ambition discourse — flattering ideologies, not grit gaps, shaping career trajectories.
• FICTION: A fairytale-rescue frame as the internalized filter of a protagonist who gives up her own ambitions for an imagined rescuer.