Nonconscious stereotypes drive backlash against competent women
Evidence
Benevolent prejudice is insidious and stealthy, operating beneath the social radar to undermine the progress of women, particularly those with ability and ambition – the very women Seyfried and Hendrick (1977) predicted would succeed. For example, in one study, applicants for management positions (either male or female) described themselves as competitive and gave strong examples of their leadership ability (Rudman & Glick, 2001). As in the past (Rudman, 1998), results showed that women risk backlash effects if they “act like a man.” Although women were rated as highly competent, men were viewed as more likable and, as a result, they were more likely to be hired. Moreover, people who scored higher on the implicit measure of gender stereotyping, the IAT, tended to dislike masterful women more; there were no effects for the explicit (selfreported) stereotyping measure. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that agentic women are rejected because they violate prescriptive stereotypes (i.e., are viewed as insufficiently nice) and implicate the importance of nonconscious gender beliefs as barriers to gender parity. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 764 (
#corroborates, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Women’s professional commitment is undermined by the visibility of parasitic peers — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1937; Tech women’s success is dismissed as appearance-driven rather than earned — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 707; Assertive women face backlash that identical men do not (+8 more)
Broader Connections
- Implicit bias, not voiced attitudes, drives backlash against competent women
#expands(0.97) - Competent agentic women are penalized via likability, and implicit biases best predict this backlash
#corroborates(0.96) - Implicit but not explicit stereotyping predicts backlash against agentic women candidates
#corroborates(0.95) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 764 - Idealizing women can itself breed misogyny through backlash.
#complicates(0.72) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 93