Sex-role Stereotypes Research Articles

Effects of leaders' and evaluators' sex on sex-role stereotyping of charismatic leaders.

This study extends research on sex and leadership by examining the relation between evaluators' and leaders' sex and the sex-role stereotyping of charismatic leaders. A total of 219 students (110 men and 109 women) from a large northeastern university rated charismatic leaders depicted in vignettes using the revised Bem Sex-Role Inventory: overall, the leaders were rated higher on masculinity than femininity. Analysis by sex of evaluator and leader showed masculinity was higher in all cases except when male charismatic leaders were evaluated by women. In this case, the results support an androgynous view, i.e., high on both masculinity and femininity.

“If We Do Not Do it, Then Who Will?”

In this interview, Payton describes a long and distinguished career encompassing research, academia, and counseling practice, ultimately as director of the Howard University Counseling Service (UCS), and public service with the Peace Corps, ultimately as its director. She served on American Psychological Association (APA) committees dealing with ethics, bias and sex role stereotyping in psychotherapy, women, gay concerns, and policy and planning, as well as on various journal editorial boards. Underlying this wide-ranging and multifaceted career was Payton’s lifelong commitment to equality, justice, and inclusion and her belief that all people are of equal worth. Within the field of counseling psychology, she provided strong leadership in the development of group counseling technique, especially for people of color. As director of UCS, she drew on her experience with an egalitarian Peace Corps in developing group counseling at Howard’s UCS, especially for people of color, believing that “we help each other” was the best model for teaching people to believe in themselves.

Managerial sex role stereotyping: a New Zealand perspective

The relationship between sex role stereotypes and the characteristics perceived necessary for managerial success was examined among 153 male and 165 female commerce students in New Zealand using the 92‐item Schein Descriptive Index. The results were compared with those from similar studies conducted in the USA, Great Britain, Canada, Germany, Japan, and the People’s Republic of China. Both male and female commerce students in New Zealand perceive successful middle managers as possessing the characteristics, attitudes and temperaments commonly ascribed to men in general and, to a lesser degree, women in general. Discriminant analysis was used to identify the specific attributes used by respondents to distinguish the stereotypes.

Evaluating women's health and gender

Current medical education objectives rarely address the context of women's health and gender. Some educators may serendipitously focus on, for example, the effect of powerlessness or sex role stereotypes on health; however, more systematic teaching is needed. The adoption and evaluation of explicit learning objectives addressing behaviors and context by licensing bodies and medical schools will increase graduates' understanding of the determinants of women's health. We identify important educational objectives and evaluation techniques and strategies for their integration. (Am J Obstet Gynecol 2002;187:S22-4.)

Sex-role stereotyping for selected sport and physical activities across age groups.

This investigation was designed to assess sex-role stereotyping across age groups. Participants (N=668) were girls and boys, students from Grades 3, 5, 8, and 10 at local public schools. All participants completed the Sport and Physical Activities Questionnaire on which were displayed pictures of 31 sport and physical activities. Participants were instructed to designate each activity as a boys' activity, a girls' activity, or a boys' and girls' activity. Chi-square analysis showed age-related differences in distribution of stereotyping of the activities. Over age groups there were more discrepancies between boys' and girls' ratings of activities as sex-specific. These findings suggest that sex-role stereotyping of sports and physical activities becomes more predominant across age groups.

Sex role stereotyping and requisites of successful top managers

The issue of management style and women’s progression has been highlighted in the past, but women’s perceptions of successful management styles are important too, especially where women’s own preferred management style differs from their view of the top team. Such differences can lead to women not putting themselves forward for promotion. Reports a study of male and female managers in one very large insurance company. Uses the personality attributes questionnaire (PAQ) to identify the managers’ own management style, and their perceptions of the style of “the successful manager” who had reached the top team in their organisation. The PAQ identifies two dimensions of management from which four categories can be found. The survey of 363 managers revealed significant gender differences. The study provides further evidence of a shift in perceptions of leadership styles towards androgynous management, high on both instrumental and expressive traits. However, women are still thinking in “think manager, think male” mode, which may limit their confidence to put themselves forward for promotion.

Perceptions of sex-role stereotypes, self-concept, and nursing role ideal in Chinese nursing students.

This study examined the relationship between sex-role stereotypes, self-concept and the requisite personality characteristics of an ideal nurse in a cohort of Hong Kong nursing students. To rate these concepts a measure of eight comprehensive dimensions of personality perception was administered to 177 nursing students, studying on preregistration and postregistration programs at a Hong Kong tertiary institution. Both male and female nursing students perceived an ideal nurse to possess a profile of traits including being high on the dimensions of emotional stability, application, intellect, helpfulness and restraint. No significant difference between the self-ratings of the male and female students was found, indicating that male students had undergone a highly self-selective process when choosing nursing education under the influence of Chinese cultural stereotypical attitudes towards nursing. A typical Chinese nurse was rated as similar to the typical female in Chinese society by both male and female nursing students. A typical Chinese nurse was rated relatively low on the masculine dimensions of openness, extroversion and assertiveness. The self-ratings of male nursing students more closely approximated the ideal nurse than did the self-ratings of female nursing students. The conclusions highlight implications for the recruitment and education of both male and female nursing students in Hong Kong society.

Sex role stereotyping in television advertisements: A content analysis of advertisements from South Africa and Great Britain

This paper reports on one of the few African studies examining sex role stereotyping in television advertisements and compares these results to those from a similar analysis of British television advertisements collected at the same time. A total of 95 British and 77 South African television advertisements were analyzed using traditional content analysis methods and categories. The sample included 127 British central characters and 116 South African central characters. The coding scheme was based on McArthur and Resko (1975), but extended previous research in two ways: first by adding specific context categories (i. e., race of actors) as well as conducting the analysis for both central and secondary characters in the advertisements. When only central characters were analyzed, results showed greater sex-role stereotyping in South Africa. When just first central characters were analyzed the number of significant results increased in both countries. Limitations of content analytic procedures are discussed, as well as the role of television advertisements in both reflecting and shaping social representatives of gender in a given society. © Walter de Gruyter.

A Study of Factors Influencing Adolescent Attitudes toward Sexual Violence

The purpose of this study is to afford basic data for planning a program to strategically prevent adolescent sexual violence by clarifying the concept of sexual violence in adolescence and investigating factors influencing the adolescent attitudes towards sexual violence. Subjects of the study were 288 adolescents between the ages of 14 to 21, living in K city in Chungnam Province. The data was collected for this study between May 30 and June 13, 2001. For this study, the following materials were used as instruments: the types of attitudes toward sexual violence developed by Nam, S. Y.(2000), the antisocial personality by Min, B. K., Choi, S. J., & Lee, G. H.(1978), the self-esteem developed by Rosenberg(1965) and interpreted by Jeon, B. J.(1974), the family support developed by Cobb(1976), the stereotyped sex role and the attitude on sexuality by Kim, E. J.(1997). The data was analyzed, using SPSS 7.5 for Windows Program, descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, and discriminant analysis. The results of this study were as follows: 1. Adolescents of the first type, ones blaming social morals, amounted to 34.7%(100 subjects), the second type, ones blaming the victims, amounted to 22.3%(64 subjects), the third type, ones claiming reform of consciousness, amounted to 25.3%(73 subjects), and the fourth type, ones coping actively, amounted to 17.7%(51 subjects). 2. Attitudes toward sexual violence were influenced a great deal by the sex of the subject. 3. The study revealed that various types of the attitudes toward sexual violence was significantly different from one another, related to antisocial personality(F=2.80, P=.04). Especially the first type and the third type were most different from each other. The latter showed the antisocial personality strongly, compared with the former. 4. Discriminant analysis revealed that the most powerful predictors of attitudes toward sexual violence were the sex of the subject and whether or not they had an antisocial personality. 5. The degree of possibility of identifying a risk group of adolescents was 45.9% and the possibility of identifying a non-risk group was 73.3%. The hit ratio was 67.8%. In conclusion, the results of the study lead us to understand the type of adolescent attitudes toward sexual violence. The results will be useful to furnish a guideline for nursing intervention and education programs to prevent sexual violence in adolescence.

Gender Representation in Children's Language Arts Computer Software

Two sets of software developed for early reading instruction (top rated and best selling) were reviewed and evaluated for gender portrayal of central and secondary characters of the opposite sex. Male central characters were present in 37% of the top-rated computer software and in 63% of the best selling software. Female central characters were observed in 16% of the top-rated software and 11% of the best selling software. The lack of consistency between children's software requires further investigation. In a more positive vein, when central characters and secondary characters of the opposite sex were compared for salient characteristics that could be classified as sex role stereotyping, no differences were observed.

“How Does She Have Time for Kids and Congress?”

Abstract According to previous studies, women political leaders often are cast by the media as focused narrowly on matters of significance to their gender, and as being less weighty players in government than their male counterparts. This research explores the degree to which the press offices of women members of Congress perceive this to be the case, and the degree to which women representatives' communication efforts contribute to this pattern of coverage. Interviews with press secretaries to House members reveal that press secretaries find the media to be less fair in their treatment of women members, and that they believe women members are subject to sex role stereotyping. Contrary to the media's depiction, however, Congressional press secretaries and House member Web sites reveal that women members portray themselves, and seek to be portrayed, as having diverse interests and significant influence in Washington. Thus, it appears that the media, rather than the members and their staffers, are responsib...

A Global Look at Psychological Barriers to Women's Progress in Management

In the early 1970s Schein identified managerial sex typing as a major psychological barrier to the advancement of women in the United States. The globalization of management brings to the forefront the need to examine the relationship between sex role stereotypes and requisite management characteristics in the international arena. A review of the replications of the Schein research in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, China, and Japan provides the basis for a global look at the “think manager–think male” phenomenon. Implications of the outcomes, especially among males, for women's progress in management worldwide are discussed.

The Lack of an Association Between Adolescent Friends' Prejudices and Stereotypes

Four hundred twenty-six white male and female, ninth and eleventh graders completed questionnaires that evaluated race, homosexual, HIV/AIDS, and fat prejudice, and sex-role stereotyping. A factor of intolerance was determined using all five scales. Regression analyses evaluated whether the association of prejudice attitudes among friends was conditional on friendship reciprocity, closeness, having one versus two friends, congruity of friends' prejudices, authoritative parenting, and degree of prejudice of the target adolescent. Friends' prejudices and stereotypes were not associated. Possible explanations were offered, including: discussions of prejudice and stereotyping may be rare among students; adolescents assume that their friends have similar attitudes to their own and thus don't question apparent differences; and adolescents may influence each other's behaviors, but not prejudices or stereotypes.

Selected Resources for Encouraging Females in Mathematics

Girls seem to do fine in mathematics until the middle grades, when a number of factors begin to influence their mathematics achievement and attitude negatively (e.g., NCES 1997). As Yusuf (1995) points out, “Gender differences in mathematics performance are predominantly due to the accumulated effects of sex-role stereotypes in family, school, and society” (p. 187). Unfortunately, research shows that schooling exacerbates rather than improves this situation, even in the classrooms of well-meaning teachers of either gender or any ethnic background (e.g., Sadker and Sadker [1995]).

Breaking out of the circle: an analysis of the gendered communication behaviors of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Netanyahu

Among the many challenges first ladies face are a variety of sex-role stereotypes. These sex-role constraints impact the office from such sources as the press and public. This article assesses these stereotypes and the prevalence of other cultural expectations on the first ladyships of the United States and Israel by comparing the experiences of Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sarah Netanyahu.

Overall self-confidence, self-confidence in mathematics, and sex-role stereotyping in relation to salivary free testosterone in university women.

This study investigated in 40 young university women the possible relationships between levels of testosterone and specific measures of overall self-confidence and self-confidence in approaching mathematics. Correlations of -.43 and -.49 with each measure of self-confidence, respectively, and level of testosterone were found in the portion of the sample displaying normal ovulatory function. There was no correlation (r=.02) between the measures of mathematics and overall self-confidence. 19 women did not display normal ovulatory function. The only significant result for the full sample was a significant correlation of -.73 between scores on the Bem Sex Role Inventory Masculinity and overall self-confidence. The reasons for the high anovulatory percentage are not clear, nor are the associations which anovulation might have with either hormonal levels or the personality characteristics in question.

A Cross-Cultural Content Analysis of Sex-Role Stereotyping in Television Advertisements: A Comparison Between Great Britain and New Zealand

The present study compared sex-role stereotyping in British (N = 205) and New Zealand (N = 146) television advertisements. Following Harris and Stobart (1986), visually presented central figures were coded and analyzed independently of voice-over central figures. The attributes of visual central figures were classified into 72 categories based on previous studies (Furnham & Mak, 1999; McArthur & Resko, 1975) and thought to be sufficiently comprehensive: mode of presentation, age, credibility basis, role, location, argument, reward type, product type, product price, background, end comment and humor. The attributes of voice-over central figures were classified according to the categories of argument, reward type, product type, humor and end comment. The results of the analysis compared to other studies (Furnham & Bitar, 1993; Furnham & Skae, 1997) indicate that the extent of sex role stereotyping in Britain has declined over the past decade. The New Zealand data was found to be more heavily sex-role stereotyped than the British data, contrary to predictions. The findings of both analyses were considered in the light of previous research in North America, Britain and Australia.

Correlates of Pre-College Males' Sexual Aggression

Current literature suggests that the causes of sexual aggression toward women lie in the fabric of a patriarchal society. The acceptance by males of negative, stereotypical and harmful myths about women, traditional sex-role stereotypes, the acceptance of interpersonal violence and the objectification of women foster an environment where sexual aggression can flourish. This paper explores several factors associated with male aggression and date rape in a sample of pre-college males entering a medium-sized Southern University. Indicators of the acceptance of rapemyths, hostility toward women, acceptance of interpersonal violence, adversarial sexual beliefs, drug and alcohol use and sexual history were examined in relation to three degrees of sexual aggression. Discriminant Analysis indicated that the four attitudinal and three behavioral variables successfully classified 56 percent of the original grouped cases.

Depression in early adolescence: relation to externalising and internalising behaviour.

The relationship between depression, on the one hand, and externalising and internalising behaviour, on the other, in 151 adolescents (79 boys and 72 girls) was examined with respect to the possible moderating role of sex-role stereotyping. The Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale, the Achenbach Teacher Report Form, and the Australian Sex-Role Scale were used to assess the hypothesis that adolescents adapt to the experience of depression in gender-appropriate ways. A regression analysis indicated that the pattern of relationships was different for boys and girls. The hypothesis was supported for boys and externalising behaviour but not for girls and internalising behaviour.

An Investigation of Sex-Role stereotypes in African Americans

The theoretical literature exploring both sex-role classification and sex-role stereotypes in African Americans is scanty. In most cases, when these constructs are studied, and even when African Americans are considered to constitute an independent cultural group, the theoretical framework is still Euro-American. In addition, African Americans are still most often researched in comparison to Euro-Americans. The consistent evaluation of African Americans on Euro-American dimensions presents many problems. One very serious problem is that such comparisons typically neglect the cultural integrity of African Americans. Consequently, the focus of the research question and discussion of the findings are based on a Euro-American perspective. This ultimately leaves the African American misunderstood and quite often labeled as deviant and/or deficient. The limitations of this approach, accompanied by numerous contradictory empirical findings, have made drawing conclusions about African Americans and sex-role stereotypes quite difficult. Nevertheless, a few theorists have spoken to the notion of sexrole classification and African Americans (Ani, 1994; HarperBolton, 1982; Lewis, 1975; Nobles, 1974; Peters, 1988; Reid, 1985; T'Shaka, 1995). From these theorists' perspectives on sexrole classification and African Americans, and from the available data on African Americans and sex-role stereotypes, we can begin