Masculinity, Status, and Subordination: Why Working For a Gender Stereotype Violator Causes Men to Lose Status
Author(s): Victoria L. Brescoll, Eric Luis Uhlmann, Corinne Moss-Racusin
Abstract: Occupying gender stereotype-incongruent roles can lead individuals to lose status and earn a lower salary. The present research examined whether merely working for a supervisor in a gender-atypical occupational role leads a subordinate to lose status. Two studies found that male subordinates of gender deviants (i.e., a female supervisor in a masculine domain or a male supervisor in a feminine domain) were accorded lower status and were paid less than male subordinates of supervisors in gender-congruent roles (i.e., a female supervisor in a feminine domain or a male supervisor in a masculine domain). However, the status of female subordinates was unaffected by working for a gender atypical supervisor. Moreover, the status loss for male subordinates was mediated by a perceived lack of masculinity. Thus, establishing the male subordinate's masculine credentials eliminated the bias.
Publication Title: Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 48(1)
Pub Year: 2012
Pages: 354 – 357
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2011.06.005
Keywords: status, masculinity, gender stereotyping, organizations, discrimination

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