Role expectations derived from gendered social roles sustain agency as a male-associated trait

Evidence

By contrast, gender stereotype research has more directly targeted beliefs about women as a group. Compared with men, women have historically been perceived as less intelligent, competent, independent, and ambitious – in a word, agentic (Bakan, 1966). The putative absence of female agency underscored the (once prominent) misconception that women lacked intrinsic motivation to succeed (Horner, 1972). Later research has clarified that women do not “fear success” so much as they avoid the appearance of deviance (as do men; Cherry & Deaux, 1978). Women are also likely to strive to succeed in areas in which they are culturally supported (Eccles, 1987). Because men and women have traditionally been socialized to assume different roles in society, with men serving as breadwinners and women as homemakers, expectations for their behavior differ (Eagly, 1987). As a result, agency continues to be more associated with men than with women (Rudman & Kilianski, 2000; Spence & Buckner, 2000). — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 752

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 752