Bossy vs. Boss: The Role of Feminist Stereotypes and Identification in the Endorsement of Leadership Gender Roles

Kara Hall, Bradley Volz, & Curtis WojcikPsychology Department, State University of New York College at Fredonia

Mentor: Dr. Jennifer DyckHYPOTHESES

● The gender of the character in a story will influence participants’ evaluation of the character as a leader

○ Specifically, when the female characters are placed in a leadership position they will be viewed more negatively than their male counterparts.

● This relationship will be moderated by stereotypes of feminists, feminist identification, internalized misogyny and the age of the character in the story.

METHOD● Participants: 61 undergraduate students at SUNY

Fredonia (M=10, F=51) with a mean age of 19.97 years (SD=2.59).

● Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. One group read two stories about a young boy and middle-aged man each in a leadership position. The other condition read the same two stories except the protagonists were female.

● Scales used included:○ Stereotypes About Feminists Scale (Robnett,

Anderson, & Hunter, 2012)○ The Internalized Misogyny Scale (Piggot,

2004) ○ Endorsement of Leadership Gender Roles

Scale: A 12-item scale measuring participants’ evaluation of different-gendered protagonists in leadership positions in a hypothetical story

○ Feminist Identification Item: “Do you consider yourself a feminist?”; forced-choice with answers of “Yes”, “No”, and “Not Sure”

ABSTRACT We investigated the effects of feminist stereotyping, feminist identification, and internalized misogyny on perceptions of different gendered leaders. Male and female college students read two passages about either a male or a female protagonist in a leadership position. One passage depicted the protagonist as a young child, the other depicted the protagonist as an adult. Participants then completed a survey about each of the passages and their views on women and feminists. Results showed significant relationships between feminist identity, stereotyping, and internalized misogyny, but there were no differences in the evaluation of the different-gendered leaders. This research is the first to address the interplay of all these factors in determining one’s endorsement of gender roles.

INTRODUCTION● For women, the more important one’s gender is to her

self-concept, the more likely she will identify as a feminist.

● Feminists as a group have been subjected to both positive and negative evaluation by both male and female non-feminists over the years.

● Regardless of negative and positive evaluations, both feminists and non-feminists view the “typical feminist” as having more radical views than they have (List, Hoffner, & Crawford, 2000).

● Negative stereotypes and evaluations of feminist serve as a barrier for self-identification (Rudman, Fairchild, 2007; Percey & Kremer, 1995; Crossley, 2010; Leaper & Arias, 2011; Swirsky & Angelone, 2014).

● Gender roles assign unique responsibilities and characteristics to each gender and reflect a general inequity in the social value of the genders.

○ An example of such a gender role is that girls who are direct and demanding are considered “bossy” whereas their male counterparts are more often viewed as a leader.

RESULTS (cont.)● Internalized misogyny (M=3.04, SD= 0.94) had a moderate,

positive correlation with feminist stereotyping (M=2.87, SD=0.51), r(61)=0.33, p<0.01.

● Feminists (M=2.33, SD=0.78) scored significantly lower in internalized misogyny than did non-feminists (M=3.44, SD=0.85), F(2,55)=5.19, p<0.01

● Feminists (M=2.53, SD=0.43) scored significantly lower in feminist stereotyping than did non-feminists (M=3.20, SD=0.43), F(2,58)=12.19, p<0.01

DISCUSSION● Results were consistent with previous literature suggesting an

individual’s feminist identification is predicted by his/her stereotypes of feminists

● There were no differences in evaluation of the different leaders based on their gender, so the hypothesis went unsupported

● Conclusion: Negative stereotypes of feminists and internal misogynistic ideals can be major obstacles to identifying as a feminist, and may explain why many are reluctant to actually call themselves a feminist