ABSTRACT
In the service of patriarchy, women’s educational and occupational opportunities have been severely limited across history and around the world. Modernly, girls and women are denied education and occupational training in many areas of the developing world. Across history, women’s work has been primarily limited to family work with no pay or domestic work for low pay. In modern, technologically advanced societies, most women are employed full-time outside the home, including when they are mothers, yet the gender pay gap persists. Women’s careers are strongly affected by pregnancy, childbirth, and raising children, while those of men are not. Women are still largely responsible for childcare and housework in dual-earner families, even when they make more money than male partners. Occupational stereotypes are more gender neutral today, but stereotypes of feminine (e.g., manicurist) and masculine (e.g., construction) jobs are documented around the world. Gender stereotypes affect perceptions of workers, with women disadvantaged in interviews, hiring, promotion, and demotion decisions. Most biases against working and leading women occur because feminine stereotypes do not match expectations about competence and assertive, agentic behaviors in positions of power. Despite evidence supporting effectiveness of female leaders, there are few female leaders in corporations and governments around the world.
