Reading Response 2/26

The paper by Dr. Hoyt sounded very familiar to me, because I actually wrote a lengthy paper about biases that prevent the successful representation of women in leadership (more specifically sports, politics, and business) in my 102 class. The conclusion that I came to is that societal expectations that lead to double binds and the lack of access to necessary resources are what result in this significant underrepresentation. I specifically remember reading a lot about communal and agentic traits and how they both are assets in a leader, but that they’ve been tied up in gender stereotypes. I think that Richmond has done a good job in encouraging students regardless of gender to take on leadership roles, but I’m curious what it will look like in the real world. My sister is 28 and is a certified Adult, and this reading makes me want to ask her if she’s experienced some of these stereotype threats.

Reading about the different biases and mindbugs hurt my mind a little bit, because it makes me wonder how many I have and may not realize. The fact that I consciously could be against a certain stereotype but automatically lean towards it is a little upsetting, because I can’t do anything about it unless I know about it, but how am I supposed to know about if it’s automatic?

One thought on “Reading Response 2/26

  1. Ellen Curtis

    I feel like throughout Richmond clubs etc. I see a lot more women in leadership positions than I do men. I could be wrong, but that is at least how I perceive it. It is interesting that here women have so many leadership positions, but in the workplace/real world it is the opposite.

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