The sexualization spillover that’s holding women back in organizations

As well as holding just 31 percent of global management positions, women receive fewer interview call backs, have lower pay, receive more unfavorable professional evaluations, experience biased personnel decisions and are subject to discriminatory workplace behaviors.  

Research by Laura Guillén, professor in the Esade Master in Finance, and co-authors Maria Kakarika (Durham University Business School) and Nathan Heflick (University of Lincoln) may provide some insight as to why.  

A problem for all 

Controlled experiments carried out by the researchers, explored in depth in the Journal of Organizational Behavior, revealed that not only women who self-sexualize are perceived negatively, reducing their chances of being hired for management positions — but also that this negative effect of sexualization “spills over” onto other women, reducing their employability prospects.  

The research explodes the myth that beauty, sex appeal and dress sense can be exploited by ambitious women

The researchers also found that recruiters favor subsequent male candidates after being exposed to sexualization. This sexualization spillover, as the researchers call it, suggests that all women are vulnerable to the effects of objectification and their careers are harmed as a result.  

The research explodes the myth that beauty, sex appeal and dress sense can be exploited by ambitious women keen to get ahead in a male-dominated environment. Instead, it confirms that ‘sexy’ women are seen as less warm, less competent and less leader-like, even when they are highly skilled and efficient in their roles.  

The competence penalty

Research into the sexualization and objectification of women has shown that men will view women as less competent and ignore their intellectual qualities when first primed with sexually explicit material. 

When women are seen as objects, qualities such as warmth, competence, intelligence and friendliness are disregarded

In the research carried out by Guillén, Kakarika and Heflick, however, the sexualization on display was more subtle and introduced within a workplace context. Rather than priming all-male participants with overtly sexualized, revealing images, male and female participants were shown photographs of women in a variety of ‘sexy’ and ‘non-sexy’ business attire likely to be experienced in a real workplace.  

Prior research has confirmed that when women’s bodies are the focus of attention they are perceived as objects. When women are seen as objects, qualities such as warmth, competence, intelligence and friendliness are disregarded even in the face of evidence of their accomplishments — known as the ‘competence penalty’.  

Sexualize one, objectify all?

Although much of this previous research has focused on male respondents, there is evidence that women also objectify other women. In the research carried out by Guillén and co-authors, participants were controlled for age and gender to evaluate whether sexualizing a businesswoman in a recruitment context led to objectification and reduced perception of competence and warmth regardless of the evaluators’ gender.  

Three studies were carried out with a total of 658 US-based participants, just under half of whom were women. In the pilot study, participants were presented at random with a photograph that showed a woman dressed in either sexualized or non-sexualized business attire and asked to rate their willingness to work for the woman in question.  

They were then shown photographs of a non-sexualized woman and a man, given no context about either, and asked to rate the extent to which they would hire either candidate. The pilot confirmed that sexualization manipulation through dress had a negative impact on both the initial sexualized woman and the non-sexualized woman that was evaluated in the second part of the study. There was no impact on the male candidate. 

In study one, participants took part in a fictional hiring scenario. They were again presented with photographs of either sexualized or non-sexualized candidates with identical qualities and appraisals. They were then asked to take part in a supposedly unrelated task to evaluate the suitability of an unpictured, highly qualified female candidate for a second position. Finally, they were asked to review a male candidate with a similar CV. 

The findings suggest all women are vulnerable to the effects of sexual objectification and the resulting negative career impact

The results confirmed that the sexualization of a businesswoman not only reduced her perceived warmth and competence but also reduced the same perceived qualities in a subsequent, non-sexualized female candidate. This was the case even when participants were directed to focus on merit rather than appearance. The sexualization of the initial female candidate made participants less likely to hire the subsequent unpictured candidate and instead choose her similarly qualified male counterpart. 

The final study tested a sample of more highly qualified participants: international high-level executives at a European business school. The scenarios were similar to study one, but replaced the fictional sexualized businesswoman with a real-world successful executive. Again, the study confirmed that sexualization reduces the belief that both sexualized and non-sexualized women are warm and competent, and reduced the hiring probability of the latter.  

Worrying implications

The findings, say the authors, suggest all women are vulnerable to the effects of sexual objectification and the resulting negative career impact. Sexualizing women strips them of perceived essential management and leadership qualities, even when high levels of skill and accomplishment are in evidence.  

The researchers urge HR professionals to actively manage the consequences of sexualization at work by raising awareness among decision-makers and delivering training on the consequences of sexist attitudes. 

Failing to act, they warn, won’t only harm women’s careers: objectifying, or dehumanizing, women can play a role in legitimizing aggression. Organizations must play an essential role in ensuring that all women are treated fairly and with respect, the researchers conclude.