Excerpts from Mattehw Biddle, “Men Are Still More Likely Than Women to Be Perceived as Leaders, Study Finds,” University at Buffalo News Center, August 9, 2018, https://www.buffalo.edu/ubnow/stories/2018/08/badura-gender-leadership.html.

“We found showing sensitivity and concern for others — stereotypically feminine traits — made someone less likely to be seen as a leader,” Grijalva says. “However, it’s those same characteristics that make leaders effective. Thus, because of this unconscious bias against communal traits, organizations may unintentionally select the wrong people for leadership roles, choosing individuals who are loud and confident but lack the ability to support their followers’ development and success.”

While group size and participants’ ages did not affect the gender gap, the study found the length of time participants spent together was an important factor in whether men or women emerged as leaders. The longer a group spent together, the less gender influenced who emerged as the group’s leader.

An excerpt from Melissa C. Thomas-Hunt and Katherine W. Phillips, “When What You Know Is Not Enough: Expertise and Gender Dynamics in Task Groups,” Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin 30, no. 12 (December 2004): 1585–98,  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15536241/#.

Women were less influential when they possessed expertise, and having expertise decreased how expert others perceived them to be. Conversely, having expertise was relatively positive for men. These differences were reflected in group performance, as groups with a female expert underperformed groups with a male expert. Thus, contrary to common expectations, possessing expertise did not ameliorate the gender effects often seen in workgroups.