What Men Think about Executive Women
In the July–August 1965 issue of
HBR, Garda W. Bowman, N. Beatrice Worthy, and Stephen
A. Greyser examined the views of 2,000 executives
(half men, half women) on that subject in “Are Women Executives People?”
Charlotte Decker Sutton and Kris K. Moore followed up in the September–October
1985 issue with “Executive
Women—20 Years Later.” Collaborating with Baylor University’s Kris Moore
(one of the 1985 authors), we’ve picked up where the second research project
left off, using the same survey questions and a fresh sample of 286 executives
randomly selected from leading public and private corporations.
Over the past 40 years, female respondents have indicated steady support for the idea of women in senior management, and men have warmed up to it along the way. Since 1965, favorable responses from men have increased from 35% to 88%. Indeed, in the most recent survey, men’s answers were as positive as women’s. While companies have come a long way in the last 40 years, there is still a gap between how men and women view executive women. It appears that today’s organizations are not providing balanced opportunities for talented men and women. However, what is even more unfortunate is that men do not even recognize the inequities. In order to have more women in corporate board rooms, perceptions will have to change. Only then will we be able to shatter the glass ceiling.
Dawn S. Carlson is an associate professor of management at Baylor University
in Waco,
K. Michele Kacmar is the Durr-Fillauer Chair of Business Ethics and a professor of management at the
Dwayne Whitten is an
assistant clinical
professor of information and operations management at Texas A&M University in
College Station,