In a fascinating study, researchers have shown that results from conventional self-reporting surveys on gender prejudices should be regarded with a measure of skepticism. People have not been telling the researchers the truth.
Gender stereotypes and gender-oriented prejudice pose a serious threat to women’s careers and facilitate gender bias in the workplace. According to theorists, prejudice against women leaders emerges from an incongruity between their gender role and the more masculine social role of a leader.
When granted full confidentiality, 28 per cent of women and 45 per cent of men in the sample indicated that they considered women to be less qualified for leadership positions than men. Across the two study methods, men showed more prejudice than women. However, the increase in the estimated prevalence of prejudice from a conventional direct question to the crosswise model was higher in women (from 10 per cent to 28 per cent) than in men (from 36 per cent to 45 per cent), indicating that women responded more strongly to being granted full confidentiality.
Source: Prejudice against women in power is greater than we think | Wellness Daily