Abstract
Although overt displays of sexism have decreased over the years, gender disparity in the workplace still exists. Sexism research has traditionally focused on hostile attitudes and behaviors towards women, but a more subtle and subjectively positive form of sexism, called benevolent sexism, may help explain such gender disparity. The present study examined the effects of both hostile and benevolent sexism on men and women during a simulated job selection task, where participants imagined that they were job applicants and an opposite-gender recruiter expressed either hostile, benevolent, or neutral language. Specifically, the study assessed the effects of sexism on working memory performance, self-efficacy, and performance self-esteem. It also examined participants’ strength of gender identification and degree of sexist attitudes to determine whether they would moderate the effect of sexism on task performance. Participants included 67 male and 71 female undergraduate students at Sacramento State. They were recruited through Sacramento State’s psychology subject pool and received research participation credits towards satisfying the department’s research participation requirement. Neither hostile nor benevolent sexism affected performance, self-efficacy, or performance self-esteem for men or for women. Interestingly, the women in the study perceived the benevolently sexist language as hostile, which may have helped protect them against its negative effects. Further research is needed to understand the effects of benevolent sexism and to determine which factors may protect women against its harmful effects.