Effects of the Male-Female Ratio at Work: Policewomen and Male Nurses

Ott, Ernani

doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.1989.tb00984.x

Cited by 167 publications

(136 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Research shows that men working in contexts numerically dominated by women can avoid the negative consequences of gender imbalance and, in fact, often benefit from being in token positions (Heikes, 1991;Ott;Williams, 1992;Yoder & Sinnett, 1985). For example, Heikes (1991) found that men working in female-skewed contexts report positive experiences and increased performance motivation, and Ott (1989) and Yoder and Sinnett (1985) found that men report quicker advancement to management in female-skewed contexts.…”

Section: Gender Ratio Of the Workgroupmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Working in a Context of Hostility Toward Women: Implications for Employees' Well-Being.

Miner-Rubino

Cortina

2004

Journal of Occupational Health Psychology

158

138

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This study examined how working in an organizational context perceived as hostile toward women affects employees' well-being, even in the absence of personal hostility experiences. Participants were 289 public-sector employees who denied any personal history of being targeted with general or gender-based hostility at work. They completed measures of personal demographics, occupational and physical well-being, and perceptions of the organizational context for women. Results showed that 2 contextual indices of hostility toward women related to declines in well-being for male and female employees. The gender ratio of the workgroup moderated this relationship, with employees in male-skewed units reporting the most negative effects. These findings suggest that all employees in the workplace can suffer from working in a context of perceived misogyny.Over the past few decades, there has been increasing recognition of the seriousness of different forms of misogyny and hostility toward women in the workplace. Sexual harassment, in particular, has received considerable attention. Most of this work has focused on specific incidents of sexual harassment and other forms of hostility and the consequences of being the target of such behavior. However, theory and data are beginning to suggest that the negative consequences of this mistreatment extend beyond individual targets to include bystanders, workgroups, and whole organizations. The present study takes these possibilities a step further, examining through a gendered lens how working in a misogynistic context can detract from employees' well-being, or general quality of life (Kahn & Juster, 2002). In particular, we examine three aspects of employees' general well-being: occupational satisfaction, organizational withdrawal, and physical health satisfaction. We describe below how and why these well-being domains might be related to working in a hostile climate for women.Of note, we focus on less extreme, more common forms of hostility toward women in the workplace. Much of the sexual harassment discourse focuses on quid pro quo behavior, or sexual conduct in which submission to or rejection of the harassment is used as a basis of employment decisions. In contrast, we examine how gender-based incivility and the gender harassment of women affect employees. Thus, we focus more on hostile environment harassment, which is far more prevalent than quid pro quo behavior (Koss et al., 1994). The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (1980) guidelines defined hostile environment harassment as workplace behavior that interferes with an employee's performance on the job and creates an intimidating, offensive, or hostile working environment. Although somewhat different, both quid pro quo and hostile environment harassment have been linked with negative wellbeing consequences for targets of, or people who personally experienced, the mistreatment.

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Section: Gender Ratio Of the Workgroupmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, Heikes (1991) found that men working in female-skewed contexts report positive experiences and increased performance motivation, and Ott (1989) and Yoder and Sinnett (1985) found that men report quicker advancement to management in female-skewed contexts.…”

Section: Gender Ratio Of the Workgroupmentioning

confidence: 99%

Working in a Context of Hostility Toward Women: Implications for Employees' Well-Being.

Miner-Rubino

Cortina

2004

Journal of Occupational Health Psychology

158

138

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“…Also, a study of the military suggested some male advantage in selection for key assignments, which consisted of opportunities to command and serve as executive officer and senior enlisted advisor (U.S. General Accounting Office, 1998). The quicker promotion of men into leadership positions is prevalent or even accentuated in female-dominated fields (e.g., Maume, 1999;Ott, 1989;C. L. Williams, 1992C.…”

Section: Studies Of Actual Wages and Promotionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders.

Eagly¹,

Karau²

2002

Psychological Review

4,876

257

5,712

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A role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders proposes that perceived incongruity between the female gender role and leadership roles leads to 2 forms of prejudice: (a) perceiving women less favorably than men as potential occupants of leadership roles and (b) evaluating behavior that fulfills the prescriptions of a leader role less favorably when it is enacted by a woman. One consequence is that attitudes are less positive toward female than male leaders and potential leaders. Other consequences are that it is more difficult for women to become leaders and to achieve success in leadership roles. Evidence from varied research paradigms substantiates that these consequences occur, especially in situations that heighten perceptions of incongruity between the female gender role and leadership roles. Role Congruity Theory: How Gender Roles and LeaderRoles Produce Two Types of PrejudiceIn general, prejudice can arise from the relations that people perceive between the characteristics of members of a social group

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“…Thus, female managers commonly are members of a numerically small minority, whereas their male counterparts are members of a majority group. As Kanter and others argued, token status increases one's visibility (Taylor, Fiske, Etcoff, & Ruderman, 1978) and can have a number of negative implications for how one is perceived and treated, especially when the token is a woman (Crocker& McGraw, 1984;Ott, 1989;Yoder & Sinnett, 1985). In 2 Whereas the belief that effective female managers are especially concerned about relationships may reflect stereotypic beliefs about women in general, the belief that effective female managers are especially concerned about task accomplishment may reflect a more complex theory about women having to perform extremely well to succeed as managers.…”

Section: Theoretical Analysis Of Sex Differences In Leadership Stylementioning

confidence: 99%

Gender and leadership style: A meta-analysis.

Eagly

Johnson

1990

Psychological Bulletin

2,067

1,414

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Research comparing the leadership styles of women and men is reviewed, and evidence is found for both the presence and the absence of differences between the sexes. In contrast to the gender-stereotypic expectation that women lead in an interpersonally orientedstyle and men in a task-oriented style, female and male leaders did not differ in these two styles in organizationalstudies. However, these aspects of leadership style were somewhat gender stereotypic in the two other classes of leadership studies investigated, namely (a) laboratory experiments and (b) assessment studies, which were defined as research that assessed the leadership styles of people not selected for occupancy of leadership roles. Consistent with stereotypic expectations about a different aspect of leadership style, the tendency to lead democratically or autocratically, women tended to adopt a more democratic or participative style and a less autocratic or directive style than did men. This sex difference appeared in all three classes of leadership studies, including those conducted in organizations. These and other findings are interpreted in terms of a social role theory of sex differences in social behavior.In recent years many social scientists, management consultants, and other writers have addressed the topic of gender and leadership style. Some authors with extensive experience in organizations who write nontechnical books for management audiences and the general public have argued for the presence of sex differences in leadership style. For example, Loden (1985) maintained that there is a masculine mode of management characterized by qualities such as competitiveness, hierarchical authority, high control for the leader, and unemotional and analytic problem solving. Loden argued that women prefer and tend to behave in terms of an alternative feminine leadership model characterized by cooperativeness, collaboration of managers and subordinates, lower control for the leader, and problem solving based on intuition and empathy as well as rationality. Loden's writing echoes the androgynous manager theme developed earlier by Sargent (198 l), who accepted the idea that women and men, including those who are managers in organizations, behave stereotypically to some extent. Sargent advocated that managers of each sex adopt "the best" of the other This research was supported by National Science Foundation Grants BNS-8605256 and BNS-8807495. Preliminary reports of this research were presented at the Annual Meetings of the Eastern Psychological Association, April 1988; the Midwestern Psychological Association, April 1988; the International Congress o f Psychology, September 1988; and the American Psychological Association, August 1989. A table showing the effect sizes and study characteristics for each study included in the meta-analysis is available from the first author.We thank Anna Fairchild for assistance in locating studies and in recording and checking data. We also thank Judith Hall, Edwin E Hollander, Judi Komaki, Louis Sternberg, Howard ...

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Effects of the Male-Female Ratio at Work: Policewomen and Male Nurses

Cited by 167 publications

References 8 publications

Working in a Context of Hostility Toward Women: Implications for Employees' Well-Being.

Working in a Context of Hostility Toward Women: Implications for Employees' Well-Being.

Role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders.

Gender and leadership style: A meta-analysis.

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