Power and objectification: the sexual objectification of women in positions of power

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.