Power and objectification: the sexual objectification of women in positions of power
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Date
04/12/2021Author
Wallace, Lyndsey J.
Metadata
Abstract
The aim of this thesis is to examine the relationship between women’s
power in a professional setting and their sexual objectification. Across five
experiments this thesis provides robust support for the hypothesis that
women in high-power positions are sexually objectified more than women
in positions of moderate-power. Five studies, utilizing a recognition and
recall paradigm, found that participants consistently remembered more
body items for high-power women compared to moderate-power women.
This sexual objectification is consistent for high-power female stimuli of
varying physical appearances, industries of employment, and race (Studies
1-3), occurs regardless of participant gender (Studies 1 and 4), or
participants personal sense of power (studies 1-3), and is not present for
high-power male targets (Study 4). In addition, we found that the sexual
objectification of high-power women did not significantly influence
subsequent judgements regarding the evaluation of leadership ability,
personality, or the awarding of compensation. In sum, the finding of these
studies points to a disturbing trend in which women in positions of
leadership and power experience sexual objectification, this is of import as
it highlights a possible added cost of breaking through the glass ceiling for
women and highlights the need for more understanding as a means of
mitigating this effect.