Gender-Bias and Its Impact on the Perceived Professional Success of Exceptionally Talented Women: A Group Decision-Making Study

Abstract

Studies on intellectual giftedness highlight a strong gender discrimination tendency in the case of gifted females both in detection and in their further academic support. The relationship between gender roles and their influence on gender-biased attribution of success is considered. Influenced by gender socialization processes, the closer to fulfill the pre-assigned gender role a female is, the weaker the social perception of her as being potentially gifted is, regardless of her age, personal vocation, and/or actual talent. To support this idea, 128 respondents clustered in focus groups were asked to suggest suitable career pathways for four concocted women based on their personal and academic profiles, where only two of them perfectly matched the preconceived expectations of feminine gender role (i.e., feminine traits and attractiveness). Additionally, four male profiles were also provided for comparison purposes. It became apparent that gifted women, who live up to the stereotypical ideals associated with their gender, are underrated, discouraged from their vocations, and even misperceived as unapt. However, perception of gifted men was not influenced to the same degree by whether or not they embody their masculine gender traits.