Study Men see brunette women as better leaders than blondes

Study Men landsee brunette women as better leaders than blondesStudy Men see brunette women as better leaders than blondesMen already judge women leaders for being too aggressively ambitiousand too nepotisticin their goals. And according tonew research, we now know that for men, hair color can make all the difference for how they judge female leaders.Brunettes are perceived as more competentIn threestudies, University of British Columbia researchers Dr. Jennifer Berdahl and Dr. Natalya Alonso surveyed some100 men to see how they felt about women CEOs who were blonde and brunette. Although men rated blondes and brunettes the saatkorn in attractiveness, in the important quality of leadership, brunettes were seen as superior.When men were shown the same woman with different-colored hair, they thought that the blonde version of the woman was less competent and independent.The irony Women who are blonde are overrepresented in corporate leadership compared to women with dark hair - and ev en men with light hair. Although only about 2% of male Fortune 500 CEOs areblonde, 48% of female CEOs at SP 500 companies and 35% of U.S. female senators were blonde, the researchers found.The majority of men thought that brunettes would make a better CEO or senator than the blondes. The fact that participantswere being shown the same person, just with different-colored hair, shows how subjective these criticismscan be.The blonde Glinda-the-Good-Witch effectBut that doesnt mean brunettes werent getting negatively judged, too. When men were asked to look at the same women leaders and judge them based on their dominant leadership styles, they universally penalized brunettes for actually leading teams. In that situation, blondes came out ahead.When men heardthe firm, decisive words of my staff knows who the boss is from a brunette, men rated her as less attractive and warm. But when a blonde was shown to say the same thing, she was perceivedas warm and attractive in whatBerdahl called the Glinda-the-Good-Witch effect.Our data suggest that blonde women are not only assumed to be younger than their darker haired counterparts, but are also judged to be less independent-minded and less willing take a stand than other women and than men,Berdahl wrote.Barbie can be CEO as long as she is young and/or docile.In other words, the blonde advantage is that you can get away with more aggression than your brunette counterparts because men in power will incorrectly see them as more docile, gentle, and less independent-minded.It shows the double bind that many women face from both men and women, however You can be either seen as competent or likable, but you only get to be one.But you shouldnt take this research as reason to bring out the hair dye. SociologistKjerstin Gruys critiqued one journalists analysis that this research means woman who want to be leaders should dye their hair blonde as short-sighted.Gruys responded that dyeing hair blonde doesnt take into account the hair ofwomen of color - and that changing ones haircolor doesnt do much to change how women, as a whole, are paid or promoted or treated at work.Whether youre blonde or brunette, this research shows that for women, you will be judged on your looks.