Examining facial masculinity as a cause of backlash against aspiring female leaders

Agency and communality are stereotypically linked with, respectively, masculinity and femininity. These gendered trait associations elicit stereotypic prescriptions for how people should behave. Whether they extend to elicit gendered stereotypic expectations for how people look and specifically how this affects women aspiring to leadership positions is understudied. In the present experiment, I analyzed backlash discrimination through job candidate evaluations. Participants evaluated one of four candidates for the leadership position of Student Policies Manager. I manipulated applicant gender (man or woman) and facial masculinity (lower or higher) between-participants by pairing a picture of the applicant’s face with the leadership role description. People looked at one of four possible faces, either higher or lower in facial masculinity, and evaluated them on list of agentic and communal traits and selected their level of job endorsement for the candidate. Counter to my hypothesis, I found that people endorsed the more masculine female face more for the leadership position than any other face. People evaluated the male and female faces as similarly agentic, but evaluated the female faces as more communal than the male faces overall. These findings show that there may be a shift in gendered expectations for leadership roles, though women are still regarded as more communal despite their agentic leadership aspirations

Expectations of women : trait inferences, nonverbal cues, and their impact on women’s underrepresentation in leadership

Women encounter a variety of obstacles when striving for leadership over the course of their careers. These obstacles can take the form of gendered trait expectations of how women and leaders “should” behave – expectations that often clash with one another. Trait inferences from facial cues (often out of women’s control) have also been shown to affect evaluations and impressions of women when striving for leadership. Appearance expectations of what a good leader “should” look like may also clash with women’s appearance and femininity in general. By identifying factors that contribute to people’s impressions and evaluations of women based on differing sexually dimorphic facial features, the current program of research adds to our understanding of how women can hopefully successfully navigate these obstacles. Indeed, work from this dissertation also reveals how nonverbal cues influence perceptions of women and highlight the factors that majorly impact job selections. The present work hopefully illuminates how women are impacted from these cues throughout their careers as they strive for positions of authority

Understanding Evaluations of Kamala Harris in 2020: Political Ideology Qualifies Perceived Communality Effects When Communal Cues Are Present

Women of color (vs. White women) are underrepresented in the United States government. Identifying factors that affect evaluations of these women is important to understand their underrepresentation. Deviating from communal expectations contributes to backlash against women. Being perceived as prioritizing communality thus appears key for women to receive support. Little work, however, has examined this relation in actual politicians and how perceiver political ideology may affect it. We examined how gendered trait inferences and political ideology affected evaluations of Kamala Harris, the first woman of color elected to the executive branch, before the 2020 election. People perceived Harris as more agentic than communal (Studies 1–2). Communal trait inferences and having a more liberal political ideology each positively related to evaluations of Harris. More liberal relative to more conservative perceivers had weaker positive communality effects when evaluating her expected success (Studies 1–2) and when a description conveyed Harris’s communality (vs. agency; Study 2). These findings highlight communality effects on evaluations of Harris and suggest a context under which she was likely more supported by co-partisans. Moreover, these studies identify potential sources of bias toward female candidates of color, illustrating a need for gendered trait inferences to be thoroughly considered in campaign strategies. Online slides for instructors who want to use this article for teaching are available on PWQ’s website at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/10.1177/03616843221104383 . </jats:p

Teaching Supplement - Supplemental material for Understanding Evaluations of Kamala Harris in 2020: Political Ideology Qualifies Perceived Communality Effects when Communal Cues are Present

Supplemental material, sj-pptx-2-pwq-10.1177_03616843221104383 for Understanding Evaluations of Kamala Harris in 2020: Political Ideology Qualifies Perceived Communality Effects when Communal Cues are Present by Hayley A. Liebenow, Kathryn L. Boucher, and Brittany S. Cassidy in Psychology of Women Quarterly</p

Supplemental Material—Understanding Evaluations of Kamala Harris in 2020: Political Ideology Qualifies Perceived Communality Effects when Communal Cues are Present

Supplemental Material for Understanding Evaluations of Kamala Harris in 2020: Political Ideology Qualifies Perceived Communality Effects when Communal Cues are Present by Hayley A. Liebenow, Kathryn L. Boucher, and Brittany S. Cassidy in Psychology of Women Quarterly</p