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‘deeply entrenched’ stereotypes have not so nice effect on middle-aged women

research found that women in their 40s and 50s are seen less favourably than men the same age who behave the same way.

by dave yasvinski

oct 24 2022

4 minute read

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middle-aged women are punished at work for not being 'warm' enough

he study confirmed the team’s suspicions that even as women gain power, capability and experience, they are still viewed negatively for not being nice enough. getty

a new study has found that an old stereotype is giving the cold shoulder to women in the workplace.

according to the research, published in the journal organizational behavior and human decision processes , both men and women are seen as equally capable as they age but only women are viewed as “less warm.” while evaluations of male professors generally remain consistent over time, researchers found that women experience a rapid decline after peaking in the 30s and hit rock bottom by the time they turn 47.

“middle age is a make-or-break time, when people are being groomed and considered for the top jobs,” said jennifer chatman , corresponding author of the study and associate dean of academic affairs at uc berkeley’s haas school of business. “we have to look beyond the pipeline to see what’s actually happening in terms of the experiences women are having throughout their careers.”

according to researchers, perceptions of “warmth” and “agency” are fundamental measures people use to judge those around them. “the first thing we notice about someone is whether they are warm or cold,” said laura kray, co-author of the paper and faculty director of the center for equity, gender and leadership at berkeley haas. “it tells you something about whether they have good or bad intentions towards you. ‘agency’ addresses the question of how capable we perceive them to be in achieving those intentions.”

previous research has shown that women are generally viewed as being warmer than men, while men are seen as having greater agency, or being more assertive. these stereotypes, a holdover from the days when women reared children while men were out hunting, “have outlived their utility,” chatman said.

to explore the issue, researchers designed a series of experiments that probe how perceptions of men and women differ as they age. in the first, participants were shown a picture of a hypothetical supervisor at a tech company: either a man named steve wilson or a woman named sue miller. they were given the same information about both people and asked to rate them on how “forceful” or “gentle” they appeared in middle age compared to when they were younger.

as previous research predicted, participants viewed older individuals as having more agency. as sue aged, however, she was given lower scores on adjectives related to warmth while steve’s scores remained unchanged. “it’s just stunning,” chatman says. “these stereotypes are so hard-wired and deeply entrenched that they come out even when absolutely identical information is provided about a man and a woman.”

in a second experiment, 500 professionals in executive leadership classes were required to ask a real-life colleague to rate them on attributes that included assertiveness and agreeableness. although women received the same warmth ratings regardless of age, middle-aged men were viewed as warmer than younger men.

“in these circumstances, women were not perceived as less warm in an absolute sense but they’re still being perceived as less warm compared to men,” kray said. “so anytime they are being considered in juxtaposition to men at that age group, they may be at a disadvantage.”

in a final experiment, the team consulted a large dataset of university professor evaluations that enabled them to compare a specific person’s performance over time. while male professors received mostly consistent ratings, female professors peaked in the 30s before bottoming out in their late 40s. after that, their ratings increase again until parity is achieved between genders by the time women reach their early 60s.

“at that point, there are different stereotypes of women, and they may benefit from being seen as more grandmotherly,” kray said.

ultimately, the study confirmed the team’s suspicions that even as women gain power, capability and experience, they are still viewed negatively for not being nice enough. despite these findings, however, they caution women against making any changes to accommodate outdated stereotypes. “i would hate for the message to be that women need to be more careful about how they present themselves because these findings already point to the fact that women have a narrower band of acceptable behaviour.”

the team is hopeful their findings make people aware of the existence of bias in the workplace and the ways in which women are viewed differently than men when promotion time arrives. they also hope that those who have fallen victim to these stereotypes will help pave the way for those behind them.

“as women move into positions of evaluating others they should not be afraid to speak up about double-standards and be change agents from within committees charged with evaluating others’ work,” kray said.

dave yasvinski is a writer with  healthing.ca

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dave yasvinski

‘deeply entrenched’ stereotypes have not so nice effect on middle-aged women

research found that women in their 40s and 50s are seen less favourably than men the same age who behave the same way.

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‘deeply entrenched’ stereotypes have not so nice effect on middle-aged women

research found that women in their 40s and 50s are seen less favourably than men the same age who behave the same way.

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