GENDER EQUALITY AND DOMINANCE Week 6 GENDER EQUALITY AND DOMINANCE

The Big Question: If women are as capable as men, why are there so few great female artists? Where are the eminent women novelists, composers, philosophers, economists, chemists, film directors, and politicians?

Some statistics (2000-03): Women remain underrepresented in parliament in a number of countries: Approx. 22% in Canada 12% in United States 18% UK 45% Sweden *men have received 98% of Nobel prizes in science in the 20th century. *6 female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies.

2 approaches to the question: Attitudes/experiences/behaviors of men and women -motivation -interest -fear Attitudes toward men and women -social expectations -gender roles -barriers

Motivation 2 types of motives: Power Achievement

Thematic Apperception Test (Murray & Morgan, 1930’s)

Achievement McClelland (1953) For men: achievement = performance in competitive situations and career performance achievement involving task instructions

Gender differences in achievement… 1. W>M AM scores under neutral conditions 2.Women’s AM scores relate to their performance in the same way that men’s do 3. Women do not show an increase in AM scores when given achievement-involving instructions in intelligence/ability

Gender-role contingency Women responded with increased achievement arousal when given achievement-involving instructions that emphasize social skills.

FEAR OF SUCCESS

Horner (1968) because achievement is inappropriate for women in many areas, a woman achieving in one of these areas may feel that she was losing an aspect of her femininity successful career women felt compelled to demonstrate that they were “real women” If the negative consequences of success outweigh the positive ones  women avoid “success” >Michigan study

Complete the sentence: “Ann finds herself at the top of her medical school class…”

Research Support: Challenge: perhaps not really an internal motive rather EXPECTATIONS OF THE NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES OF SUCCESS Research Support: male students also wrote negative consequences for her success Women write about male target w/o negative consequences

Cherry and Deaux (1978) Found that men indicated a fear of success when “John” in nursing school Therefore, fear of success may be a fear of the negative consequences of succeeding in a “gender-inappropriate” situation.

Strength of underlying AM Probability of success MOTIVATION TO ACHIEVE Incentive/reward Probability of success

Power Motivation Similar research No difference under neutral conditions Men responded with more PM to power-arousing procedures. For both W+M, high need for power ~ experience in institutional power position and ~ choosing careers that involve having power over others.

Power and Influence “Strong”, authoritative versus “weak”, passive tactics

Strategies of Influence Paula Johnson (1976) There are 3 dimensions that are affected by gender stereotypes: Directness Concreteness Competence

Johnson (1976) WOMEN Indirect MEN Personal Direct Helplessness or Dependence MEN Direct Concrete Competent

Do men and women use power differently? Ps asked if male or female influencer when presented with a list of 15 different methods: Coercion based on resources, legitimacy and expertise- predicted of male influencers Coercion based on personal resources and sexuality –predicted of female influencers

Do they, in fact, use it differently? In leadership roles: Men are seen to use more persuasive messaging that stress their own expertise Women- messages that emphasized their helplessness and dependency Women are also more likely to report using more compromising strategies

Defining Achievement and Power Definition of achievement Achievement- broken down into components… Thus, different styles of achieving goals reflects differences inherent in gender-role expectations (i.e., differences can be seen as a rxn to social expectations)

Defining Achievement and Power Definition of power (personal authority vs. controlling others) Men: dominating others Women: developing sense of own abilities and strengths No differences when explicitly asked to define

Access to Resources Money education, employment, status, and Time

Attitudes toward women in power Carli (1999)- women are less likely to be perceived as competent experts -making them less likely to use direct strategies even when perceived as competent not perceived as having legitimate AUTHORITY

Politics Werhun & Pancer (2005; under review)- stereotype: women are not interested in politics Governmental vs. Nongovernmental

Attitudes toward female candidates Voting biases shown in a number of studies Media portrayals Gender-typing of skills and social policies Double-bind for women

The relative position of women and men in relation to the power structures Perceptions of and attitudes toward power Attitudes against