This book attempts to uncover the invisible barriers that prevent women from achieving the same professional success as men. Valian’s arguments are based on statistical laboratory and field studies and center around gender schemas – our implicit hypotheses about sex differences. Though gender schemas are not entirely inaccurate, Valian argues that schemas alter our ability to evaluate men and women without bias. In general, the schema of a woman is incompatible with the schema of a successful professional. The consequence is that professional women are often underrated, while their male counterparts are overrated. Because of these imbalances, however slight, women accumulate advantage at a slower rate than men.
Valian, V. (1998). Chapter 1: Gender schemas at work; Chapter 7: Evaluating women and men. Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
by Shawn Beard | Sep 4, 2018 | Uncategorized