Role models are not superhuman, and they sometimes fail. Although we might accept their imperfections, we do not expect that other people will treat them the same.
Cabbage rolls, water bottles, and disappointment: See what you may have missed in the world of personality and social psychology in this week's ICYMI roundup.
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Research on gender roles reveals a curious sense in which men are the “weaker sex.” Many men seem to live in a chronic state of insecurity about whether they are “real men.”
Why might a woman be told she did a “great job” at work yet be passed over for raises or a promotion? She may have been the victim of shifting standards.
In 1980, the wealthiest 10% of households owned 68% of the total US wealth. In 2007, the wealthiest 10% controlled 73% of the wealth. Similarly, in the 1970s, the average woman earned about 60% of what the average man would typically earn. Fortunately, the gender income gap has decreased since the 1970s, with women earning about 80% of that typically earned by men. Unfortunately, the gender income gap has hit a plateau that started in 2005 (Stanford Center On Poverty & Inequality, 2011).
Today, women are more likely to hold positions of power than they were decades ago. However, female leaders tend to be put under a microscope, facing more scrutiny than their male counterparts.
For example, Marissa Mayer, the CEO of Yahoo, was blamed for the many missteps in the company. As a young woman and a CEO, her social role as a woman and as a CEO may have been in conflict.
This conflict is not unique to Mayer, or even CEOs. Women in positions of power are assumed to immediately help other women come to power—but is that assumption true?