Reinforcing the glass ceiling: The consequences of hostile sexism for female managerial candidates

Previous research has established that benevolent sexism is related to the negative evaluation

of women who violate specific norms for behavior. Research has yet to document the

causal impact of hostile sexism on evaluations of individual targets. Correlational evidence

and ambivalent sexism theory led us to predict that hostile sexism would be associated with

negative evaluations of a female candidate for a masculine-typed occupational role. Participants

completed the ASI (P. Glick & S. T. Fiske, 1996) and evaluated a curriculum vitae

from either a male or female candidate. Higher hostile sexism was significantly associated

with more negative evaluations of the female candidate and with lower recommendations

that she be employed as a manager. Conversely, higher hostile sexism was significantly associated

with higher recommendations that a male candidate should be employed as a manager.

Benevolent sexism was unrelated to evaluations and recommendations in this context. The

findings support the hypothesis that hostile, but not benevolent, sexism results in negativity

toward individual women who pose a threat to men’s status in the workplace.