Sexual stereotyping in workplace can impact women’s performance, research study says

Objectification in the workplace could have negative psychological affects on women’s ability to work, according to a study published in the March issue of Psychology of Women Quarterly.

The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Pennsylvania State University, placed 67 women and 83 men in interview situations in which they were “checked out” by the interviewer.

The interviewers maintained normal eye contact with the control group, but gave the test group a “once over” and glanced several times at the interviewee’s chest. The interviewers underwent extensive training to perfect the look and timing, according to the study.

After the interview, subjects were asked to complete a set of math problems. While the men’s results were consistent regardless of whether they were “checked out” or not, the women’s results were significantly different.

The women who were objectified performed more poorly than the control group, according to the study, leading researches to conclude that objectification interfered with women’s concentration and mental performance.

The study suggested that the “stereotype threat” caused the women’s decreased performance. Because women are typified as having poor math skills, the women who were objectified were anxious about confirming the stereotype and lost their concentration.

According to ReducingStereotypeThreat.org, “stereotype threat refers to being at risk of confirming, as self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about one’s group.”

Deborah Belle, a psychology professor and director of the Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Program at Boston University, said there are flaws in the study.

“The stereotype threat is a very well established research finding…The study only tested women in mathematics, something women are stereotypically bad at,” Belle said. “Other studies have tested women’s verbal skills and found that they don’t perform differently.”

However, Belle said that everyone is affected by the stereotype threat.

“Women aren’t the only ones who suffer. Other studies suggest we can all be affected by stereotype threat,” said Belle.

Another result of the study was that the objectified women wanted to spend more time with their interviewer.

“Because one experience of the objectifying gaze caused decreased math performance and increased interaction motivation, these effects may accumulate over time, given that women report frequent sexual objectification experiences,” researchers said in the study.

Although the women might want to interact more with their interviewer, that does not necessarily mean they enjoy being objectified, said Carrie Preston, a women’s studies professor at BU.

“I think many women are taught to interpret that gaze as an indication of their worth in the world – their primary value – and so they must ‘like’ to have their worth affirmed. This does not mean that it is a positive experience. We ‘like’ a lot of things that are bad for us,” Preston said.

“I believe that the ‘check out’ has a daily negative effect on women’s psychic energy and self perception, but it is very difficult to measure,” she said.

Another example of men’s psychological effect on women include when a female performs poorer on a test when a male proctor sits back in a chair with his legs spread, a stereotypical representation of masculinity, Preston said.

Being “checked out” could negatively affect women, said Jaclyn Sessel, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences.

“I agree [with the study]. Women who are getting checked out will do worse. They’re self conscious,” Sessel said. “It’s awkward when men do the one-up if they’re older than me.”

Andrew Mohn, a freshman in the College of Engineering, agreed.

“I think it depends on who is checking the women out,” Mohn said. “For example there’s a difference between a cute guy friend and a creeper, but I definitely believe being checked out could interfere with their concentration.”