Women’s professional commitment is undermined by the visibility of parasitic peers

Evidence

By the very fact that she is in thrall to outside preoccupations, she does not commit herself entirely to her enterprise; thus she profits from it less, and is more tempted to give it up. What is extremely demoralizing for the woman trying to be self-sufficient is the existence of other women of her class, having from the start the same situation and chances, and who live as parasites; the man might resent privileged people: but he feels solidarity with his class; on the whole, those who begin on an equal footing with equal chances arrive at approximately the same standard of living, while women in similar situations have greatly differing fortunes because of man’s mediation; the woman friend who is married or comfortably kept is a temptation for the woman who has to ensure her success alone; she feels she is arbitrarily condemning herself to the most difficult paths: at each obstacle she wonders if it would not be better to choose a different way. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1937

Categorization

• SEED: The ‘demonizing comparison’ — how the mere existence of peers who took an easier path derails the striver — is a generalizable mechanism for essays on ambition, scarcity mindset, and institutional design.
• XREF: Connects to the class/solidarity analysis in the broader existentialist framework; man’s class solidarity vs. woman’s individual mediation by men. — connects to: Nonconscious stereotypes drive backlash against competent women; Implicit bias, not voiced attitudes, drives backlash against competent women; Women participate in benevolent sexism as strongly as men do — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 769

Broader Connections

• Nonconscious stereotypes drive backlash against competent women #expands (0.75)
• Implicit bias, not voiced attitudes, drives backlash against competent women #expands (0.75)
• Women participate in benevolent sexism as strongly as men do #complicates (0.70) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 769