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Differential evaluation of male and female expertise: Prejudice against women?
Author(s) -
Ward Colleen
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
british journal of social and clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.479
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8260
pISSN - 0007-1293
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1979.tb00305.x
Subject(s) - painting , prestige , psychology , appeal , competence (human resources) , originality , prejudice (legal term) , social psychology , developmental psychology , visual arts , art , linguistics , philosophy , creativity , political science , law
The study was undertaken to investigate the differential evaluation of males and females in professional expertise and in particular, to test the hypothesis that professional females are devalued in relation to males. Ninety‐two university students and 94 art students were asked to view and evaluate two paintings on a series of 14 items. Sex of the artist was varied in each case. Analysis revealed no pervasive pro‐male bias in the evaluation of the works. Painting A which received overall lower ratings was judged more favourably on composition, use of colour, originality, artistic potential and general appeal when the artist was described as female. No main effects for sex of artist were established for painting B which received higher ratings. These results are interpreted in light of Deaux & Taynor's (1973) research which indicates that females who are low in competence are favoured over low competence males while the reverse is true for highly competent persons. Painting B also yielded some interesting interaction effects with art students more favourably evaluating works attributed to males while the reverse was true for university students. An interpretation is offered in terms of exploitative advantage, suggesting that prejudice against women may not be solely due to the subtle influence of sex‐role stereotypes, and is further explained by occupational prestige theory and the Queen Bee syndrome.