Benevolent Sexism, Men’s Advantages and the Prescription of Warmth to Women

Abstract

Gender prescriptions consist of beliefs about the characteristics that men and women should possess. This paper focuses on stereotypic prescriptions targeting women and on some of the variables that influence the adherence to these prescriptions. In Study 1, male undergraduates (N = 36) from Belgium completed the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI—Glick and Fiske 1996), questions assessing the prescription of warmth- and competence-related traits to a female target and a measure of the target’s perceived status. In Study 2, male undergraduates (N = 80) from Belgium completed a questionnaire assessing the perceived benefit associated with warmth traits possessed by women, in either a family or a professional context, a prescription measure regarding these traits and finally the ASI. Study 1 indicated that the prescription of warmth to women depends upon their perceived status. Study 2 showed that men are more prone to seeing the benefit to be gained for themselves from women’s warmth and to prescribe it more so in a family context than in a professional one. Both studies also showed that men’s endorsement of benevolent sexism is related to women’s perceived status / the perception of a benefit for men to be gained from women’s warmth and, consequently, to the prescription of warmth traits to women.