Evaluation of the performance of women as a function of their sex, achievement, and personal history.

Abstract

A study was designed to investigate the conditions under which women are prejudiced against women. Paintings were shown to 120 college women for evaluation. Half of the subjects thought that the artist was female, half thought that the artist was male; half thought that the painting was an entry in a contest, half thought that it was a winner. Some questionnaire data showed that women judged the entry paintings by men to be significantly better than the identical paintings by women. Winning paintings were not evaluated differently depending on sex. Obstacles faced by winners or entrants had no effect. It was concluded that women who are attempting to accomplish are judged less favorably than men, but that women who have successfully accomplished work are evaluated as favorably, as arc men. One explanation for the apparent failure of women to achieve as much success as men is prejudicial evaluations of their work by men (cf. Klein, 1950; Scheinfeld, 1944). If men undervalue the accomplishments of women, women also may do so. Women's misjudgment of themselves should contribute to an actual lack of achievement. If women devalue their own and each other's work, they should be less willing to try to achieve and less supportive of their fellow women's efforts. The present study investigates the conditions under which women devalue female performance. Goldberg (1968) designed a study to investigate prejudice among women toward women in the areas of intellectual and professional competence. College women were asked to evaluate supposedly published journal articles on linguistics., ]aw, art history, dietetics, education, and city planning; for each article, half of the subjects saw a male author's name and half saw a female author's name. The results confirmed the hypothesis