Study finds stereotypes hurt women

Men are natural leaders; women are either too soft or too tough.
That is the stereotype, and even in the 21st century, it’s so pervasive that it puts women leaders in a perennial “double bind,” according to a recent study by New York-based Catalyst, a nonprofit that promotes women’s advancement in business.
The study was based on a survey of 296 U.S. senior managers and corporate leaders – 168 women and 128 men – and 935 European managers and senior managers – 282 women and 653 men – as well as in-depth interviews with 13 women leaders in a large U.S. corporation.
What it found, as Catalyst put it in a news release, is that “gender stereotypes lead organizations to routinely underestimate and underutilize women’s leadership talent.”
The nonprofit’s research has found that while women make up more than 50 percent of workers in management, professional and related occupations, only 15.6 percent of Fortune 500 corporate officers and 14.6 percent of Fortune 500 board directors are women.
“When companies fail to acknowledge and address the impact of gender stereotypic bias, they lose out on top female talent,” said Catalyst President Ilene H. Lang in the release. “Ultimately, it’s not women’s leadership styles that need to change. Only when organizations take action to address the impact of gender stereotyping will they be able to capitalize on the ‘full deck’ of talent.”
The Catalyst study notes that multiple other studies have found that men and women exhibit similar leadership styles, but they appear to be judged differently as leaders.
The new study found men are still viewed as “default leaders” and women as “atypical leaders,” with the perception that they violate accepted norms of leadership, no matter what the leadership behavior. They’re never “just right,” but rather they’re deemed to be either too soft or too tough.
The study quotes one man surveyed, for example, noting that he’s found senior women tend to be “at either end of the spectrum, drivers that do it themselves … [or] very effective delegators … perceived as ‘not tough enough’ ”
Women leaders also face higher standards than men, the study found, and are rewarded with less. A European woman in management told the researchers that women “need to show it more times before they believe” that they are truly capable.
In addition, the study found, when women exhibit traditionally valued leadership behaviors such as assertiveness, “they tend to be seen as competent but not personable or well-liked.” Those who are more stereotypically feminine, on the other hand, are not viewed as leaders.
Said a female U.S. manager, “There does seem to be a little more tolerance for harsh behavior from men rather than women. Women are quicker to get labeled, and with men, it’s easier to brush it off.”
Lang, the Catalyst president, said the study shows organizations need to change their culture to ensure gender stereotypes don’t get in the way.
“While women may address double-bind dilemmas with individual strategies,” she said, “this is clearly about organizations shifting their norms and culture to meet marketplace demands.”
The study recommends being more aware of the stereotypes, as well as “action steps” such as:
• Providing women leaders and other employees with tools and resources to increase awareness of women leaders’ skills and of the effects of stereotypic perceptions.
• Assessing the work environment to identify in what ways women are at risk of stereotypic bias.
• Creating and implementing innovative work practices that target stereotypic bias, especially in specific areas of risk, such as performance management procedures. •
The study and related documents are available for download at www.catalyst.org.