14 DAY TRIAL // A new set of studies has found that women benefit more than men from having same-gender examples of success. While a woman's self-esteem could be enhanced by a female role model with a similar career path, a man's feelings about himself were unaffected by a role model of either gender.
The study was conducted by Penelope Lockwood, a social psychologist specializing in research on social comparison, role models and motivation. Her research tries to determine when people are inspired and stimulated by examples of successful others, and when, on the contrary, such examples simply leave them feeling inferior and demoralized.
In the first part of the present study the participants read an article describing a male or female professional who had graduated from the same university seven years ago and had just recently won an alumni award for outstanding career achievements in the same field the reader was planning on working in. They then completed a questionnaire about themselves.
The result of the questionnaire showed that female participants were more inspired by female role models than by male role models. On the other hand, for men the gender of the model didn't count. This is a statistical, sociological result. While for some particular man having a male role model might be important, the research showed that, on the average, man are equally probable of being influenced by a male or by a female model. On the other hand, on the average, women were more likely to choose a female role model. This result says more about our society than about the inner female psychology.
In the second part of the study, female and male participants were asked to describe a role model that inspired them and say if that model's gender affected their choice. The result of this second study is less straightforward. While around 63 percent of women selected another woman as their academic or occupational model, 75 percent of men selected another man as their model. However, while many of the study's female participants acknowledged the importance of gender and said they appreciated the ability of overcoming gender barriers and stereotypes, men did not acknowledge gender as a deciding or influential factor.
This result can be interpreted either by saying that, on the average, men still enforce gender stereotypes but in the same time the anti-sexist stereotype prevents them from admitting it, or by saying that men simply selected another man as their role model because in the present society there still are significantly more men than women in high places. Maybe men were telling the truth when they said gender was not such an important factor for them. The first part of the study seems to enforce this idea.
Thus, it is difficult to say for certain whether gender barriers are still deep rooted inside people's heads or they are just an element of social inertia, a customary remnant on the verge of being changed. In either case, the tendency of women to choose female role models is a way to challenge the gender barriers.
"Female role models may not only be a useful example for women who are attempting to determine their potential for future achievement, they also may provide a means of undermining stereotypes that might otherwise threaten their career performance," said Dr. Penelope Lockwood.
Picture Credit: UNICEF