Gender stereotypes and social identity: How being in the minority affects judgments of self and others

Men and women participated in groups in which they were either the only member of their sex or in the majority. Participants rated themselves along gender-stereotypic traits and then made judgments of a gender-ambiguous target person. Results for both measures supported social-identity theory, suggesting that men's consciousness of their sex made them aware of their high social status in relation to women and activated concepts about themselves that confirmed their membership in this high-status category In contrast, women's consciousness of their sex made them aware of their low social status relative to men and motivated them to view themselves in terms of concepts that distinguished them from other members of this low-status category.