Sexists observing sexism: consequences for female targets of benevolent and hostile sexism

A growing body of research has documented the deleterious effects of benevolent sexism on women‟s performance, self-construals of competence, and acceptance of gender inequality (Barreto, Ellemers, Piebinga, & Moya, 2010; Dardenne, Dumont, & Bollier, 2007; Jost & Jay, 2005). Less research has examined perceptions of women who are the victims of benevolent sexism. Notably, Good and Rudman (2010) found that hostile sexist observers were particularly likely to punish a gender atypical female job applicant when she was treated with benevolent sexism by a male interviewer as opposed to hostile sexism or no sexism. The current research builds upon this finding to test a novel Model of Incongruent Sexism (MIS), in which ambivalent sexist perceivers‟ evaluations of a female target vary as a function of her gender typicality and the type of sexist treatment she receives. Study 1 (N = 281) tested the MIS by having undergraduate participants read a job interview transcript featuring a woman applying for a gender typical vs. atypical job, who was treated with benevolent vs. hostile sexism by a male interviewer. Results did not support the MIS in its current form, but indicated that hostile sexist observers punished a female job candidate regardless of her gender typicality. In Study 2 (N = 269) undergraduate participants listened to an audio recording of a job interview featuring a female applicant applying for a gender atypical job who either accepted or rejected a benevolent sexist male interviewer‟s treatment. Results showed that observers who evaluated the male sexist interviewer favorably tended to rate the applicant as less competent and therefore less hireable. When the applicant rejected the benevolent sexist treatment, female observers evaluated the applicant as more competent and the interviewer as less favorable; however this pattern was not found for men. Across both studies, a novel measure of appearance gender typicality was tested, showing preliminary reliability, convergent, and discriminant validity. Implications for reducing sexism in the workplace are discussed.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Jessica J. Goo