Gender Stereotypes and the Evaluation of Men and Women in Military Training

The present study investigated perceptions of men and women in the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets. For both stereotypes and evaluations of individual cadets enrolled in the training program, men more than women were believed to possess the motivation and leadership qualities necessary for effective military performance, whereas women were believed to possess more feminine attributes that impair effective military performance. Because men and women did not differ on objective measures of military performance, the sex-differentiated evaluations of cadets enrolled in training most plausibly reflect the influence of gender stereotypes rather than performance differences between the sexes. Furthermore, integration of women into the corps was associated with more favorable stereotypic judgments of women and did not reveal a backlash against women in this strongly male- dominated setting.