Though women have come along way since winning the right to vote a little over 90 years ago (yeah, it really was that recent!), society’s perception of them is still tainted by gender stereotypes. In fact, though gender bias tends to be downplayed, it’s more prevalent than you may think! According to a new study, regardless of how similar their ideas, men are still viewed as more creative and innovative than the women.
The researchers found that people associated creative traits (like “thinking outside the box” and “connecting the dots”) with more masculine characteristics, such as decisiveness, ambition and risk-taking. In another study, they found that in certain professions men were ranked higher for creativity than women regardless of their contributions. For example, participants ranked male architects as more creative than female architects, despite the fact that they had identical creations. That’s pretty messed up.
When they moved to real world perceptions, they found that employees ranked male supervisors as more innovative than females in the same positions. However, when it came to their direct reports, the playing field was even between men and women. This not only shows that women are just as capable and innovative in leadership positions, but also that our gender perceptions are still way behind the times.
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