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Mindful and Masculine: Freeing Women Leaders From the Constraints of Gender Roles
Author(s) -
Kawakami Christine,
White Judith B.,
Langer Ellen J.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/0022-4537.00151
Subject(s) - gender studies , psychology , gender equality , political science , social psychology , sociology , public relations
Despite gains in women's status, successful leaders are more likely to be men than women. The styles that successful leaders set tend to be masculine. Female leaders face a paradox: If they emulate a masculine leadership style, their male subordinates will dislike them. If they adopt a stereotypically warmand nurturing feminine style, they will be liked, but not respected. Two experiments found that female leaders who are mindful can escape this paradox. In an experiment, college‐aged men perceived a woman who was masculine and mindful to be a better leader than a woman who was masculine and mindless. A second experiment replicated that result with middle‐aged businessmen.