(no subject)

[pastwatcher]

Oh hey, it's one of those controlled résumé studies--this one is about men vs. women in science, AND it explains that the discrimination against women is perpetrated by women as well as by men. Useful.

I had "reaction #1" described in the article, with a mild tinge of annoyance for the same thing that "reaction #3" people say. The reminder that reaction #4 exists is really sad. :(

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/little_e_/]

4 is bogus. Women in science fields have extremely low fertility rates. Women in retail are having far more babies, and yet I wouldn't be surprised to find a bias *toward* women in retail.

For all of the discussion over 4, the reality is 5, the reason actually given in the study: women are perceived as less competent than men--probably because they display fewer aggressive, self-confident, "alpha" behaviors. An equally competent woman will have a difficult time just being heard over an equally competent man, because men tend to talk louder, interrupt more, be more competitive, etc. And we tend to associate these behaviors with being *right* and competent, even when the person is actually full o' crap.

So after a lifetime of exposure to self-confident men and modest women, it's unsurprising that folks would correlate the traits and start pre-judging men and women.

All traditionally male-dominated spheres of life--corporations, politics, science, law, etc.--seem to have a strong bias toward asshole behavior.