When benevolence harms women and favours men: The effects of ambivalent sexism on leadership aspiration

Literature on ambivalent sexism has shown that benevolence toward women can be even more pernicious than explicit hostility because it is not clearly recognizable as a form of prejudice and thus it is more difficult to combat. Similarly, benevolence toward men predicts the perceived legitimacy of gender hierarchy. However, the effects of sexism on men’s and women’s leadership aspiration have not been studied yet. In the present study participants (N = 101) were primed with sexism (Hostile vs. Benevolent) toward their own gender. Results showed that benevolence fosters the possibility of holding a leadership role for men, but harms women from leader positions. Moreover, women consider benevolent and hostile attitudes toward women as similarly prejudiced. On the contrary, men define hostile sexism toward men as more prejudiced than benevolent attitudes.