Benevolent sexism is a term I only learned about this month. That it even exists surprised me. I always thought sexism was a bad thing – something to be avoided like racism, ageism, and many other isms. But could a sexist actually be, at the same time, kind at heart?
A recent example might be – and this is certainly up for debate – former Prime Minister John Howard. A few weeks ago, he made the benevolent comment that he'd like to see a "process whereby there are more women" in parliament but that quotas aren't the way to go. The sexist part kicked in when he added the caveat that women are often carers, thereby placing "limits on their capacity".
A benevolent sexist is different to your run-of-the-mill sexist. The latter has an intense dislike of women whereas the former thinks quite fondly of them, so long as they comply with an idealised version of what a woman should be like.
That means women need to be protected from the brutality of men's jobs, from the wicked powers of senior corporate office, or from whatever threatens their femininity.
The benevolent sexist, then, is usually concerned with female professions (such as boxing women into stereotypical jobs like nursing and hairdressing); or female behaviour (such as expecting women to remain warm and nice while climbing the corporate ladder – or not to climb it at all); and even their clothes (such as whether or not it's appropriate for Hillary Clinton to wear pantsuits).
Surveying sexism
In a series of four studies published two months ago in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers sought to verify the impacts of benevolent sexism on gender equality.
In the first study, which comprised 115 participants, the researchers classified the participants into those who were benevolent sexists and those who weren't. They did this by giving them a survey that included items such as "women should be cherished and protected by men" and "men should be willing to sacrifice their own well being in order to provide financially for the women in their lives".
The researchers then gave the participants a company policy for an organisation seeking to hire more women. The findings revealed benevolent sexists were highly likely to support such a policy. The reason? Compassion. That women needed the policy was a source of empathy and concern, which motivated the benevolent sexists to even volunteer their time in support of the cause.
The second study was an experiment. Another 100 or so participants were invited to a laboratory at which some were required to memorise benevolently sexist statements. These included: "Secretly, most women yearn for a man in whose arms they can find protection and security."
The results were similar to the first study. Those who had memorised the benevolently sexist statements were more likely to support gender equality even though they weren't benevolent sexists in real life. That's quite an amazing finding because it shows such characterisations can be caught.
The third study was comparable to the first except now an additional 90 participants were given quite pertinent information. When the benevolent sexists were asked to express the extent of their compassion towards women from an equality perspective, in some cases the women were applying for roles in human resources; in other cases they were applying for roles in finance.
Well, it was primarily those working in HR who were the beneficiaries of compassion and support for equality. You can probably guess why. HR roles are widely perceived as being feminine while finance roles are generally seen as masculine. Which means the benevolent sexist feels strongly about women's rights … but only when women act like women. Good intentions end up being counterproductive.
In the final study, the sample size was increased to more than 700 and a wider variety of gendered jobs were added. The results were pretty much the same. As the researchers conclude: "Even the seemingly positive effects of benevolent sexism subtly erode gender equality in the workplace."
A benevolent sexist, therefore, may indeed just be an oxymoron.
James Adonis is the author of Employee Enragement.
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