Relationships Between Sex Role Stereotypes and Requisite Management Characteristics Among Female Managers
Virginia Ellen Schein Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, New Yor/c, New Yor/c
The relationship between sex role stereotypes and requisite management characteristics among female middle managers was examined. In a replication of a previous study with male middle managers, 167 female middle managers rated either women in general, men in general, or successful middle managers on 92 descriptive terms. As was found with the male sample, the results confirmed the hypothesis that successful middle managers are perceived to possess characteristics, attitudes, and temperaments more commonly ascribed to men in general than to women in general. This relationship between sex role stereotypes and perceived requisite management characteristics was strongest among female managers with limited managerial experience.
Male middle managers have been shown to perceive successful middle managers as possessing characteristics, attitudes, and temperaments more commonly ascribed to men in general than to women in general (Schein, 1973). This association between sex role stereotypes and perceptions of requisite management characteristics would seem to account, in part, for the limited number of women in management positions. Such sex role stereotyping of the managerial job could result in the perception that women are less qualified than men for management positions, a perception which would have a definite influence on selection, promotion, and placement decisions. Although the number of studies pertaining to women in management has been gradually increasing (e.g., Bass, Krusell, & Alexander, 1971; Cecil, Paul, & Olins, 1973; Rosen & Jerdee, 1974a, 1974b), the samples for most of these studies have been composed of
