Lucky Lady: Antecedents & Consequences of the Exceptional Woman Mindset

Abstract

Male-dominated organizations are settings that not only devalue women but also misvalue women in ways that are likewise detrimental. What happens when a woman in a male-dominated organization is told that only the strongest of women can survive in that environment, and she is one of the chosen few lucky enough to be working there? Based on theories of resource scarcity, social dominance, and social identity, we propose that a factor of benevolent sexism known as protective paternalism can manifest as expressions of gender scarcity as opposed to gender abundance in organizations. We outline a model by which female numerical minorities in male-dominated organizations are indoctrinated into a “gender mindset,” internalizing the subtyped social identity of being an “Exceptional Woman” valued due to her rarity as a female numerical exception. We reason that a prospective female entrant will trigger a social identity threat to the “Exceptional Woman” who will constitute less of a numerical exception upon her entry, inducing competitive as opposed to cooperative interdependence as a threat response. Rather than competition originating from numerical minorities themselves, our theoretical model sheds light on the institutional inductions of competition that serve to divide and undermine them. By introducing the concept of gender mindset, we provide a theoretical model for developing interventions that foster cooperation, facilitating movement toward gender neutrality in male-dominated organizational settings.