I came across this article in the NYT paper:
Virginia Valian has written a book called "Why So Slow? The
Advancement of Women," published by the M.I.T. Press.
Exploring the Gender Gap and the Absence of
Equality.
By NATALIE ANGIER
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/082598sci-valian.html.
She argues that the biases against women are small (sometimes
miniscule), but consistent, and that as you move up the heirarchy, the
small biases have a multiplicative effect.
She cites a social psychology study in which people are asked to judge
the "leader" of a group of people sitting around a table. When the
groups are single sex, most chose the person sitting at the head of the
table as the leader. But when the group is mixed sex (both men &
women), and a woman is sitting at the head of the table,about half the
time, a man sitting elsewhere at the table is chosen as the leader. In
mixed sex groups where a man is siting at the head of the table, the man
is chosen as the leader.
Anyone know the study? Have a cite?
Bharathi
bjag at ln.nimh.nih.gov
