Catfight: Women and Competition

by Leora Tanenbaum

the power of negative stereotypes of women. Stereotypes influence not only the way that people regard members of the stereotyped group, they also affect the behavior of the targets of the stereotype. Being aware that one is stereotyped often leads a person to act in a way that confirms the stereotype. Cytrynbaum writes, “[M]en and women have become socialized to internalize a powerful stereotype of females as having legitimate authority only when performing nurturant tasks. When women attempt to exercise authority in areas deemed culturally inappropriate to the traditional stereotypic sex-role, and behave in nontraditional ‘unfeminine’ ways, they run into difficulty because subordinates experience disruptive feelings.” A stereotype, then, can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.