Females Leading Like Males: When Agentic Female Leaders Perceive Sex-Based Mistreatment

Abstract

Previous studies show that when female leaders display agentic, or stereotypically masculine, traits (e.g., independence, assertiveness) which are associated with successful leadership, they are perceived to be missing stereotypically feminine traits such as warmth and compassion. This leads to lower social ratings of agentic female leaders. This study assesses the relationship between female agency and perceived sex-based mistreatment by females who hold leadership positions. It also measures whether their stigma consciousness moderates this relationship. Further, it assesses whether leadership level interacts with stigma consciousness to result in more perceived sex-based mistreatment for lower-level leaders than upper-level. Although previous research has probed into the social ratings of agentic females, there is a lack of research on factors that may influence the relationship between agentic female leaders and perceived workplace mistreatment.