Listen to me - A study to reveal mechanisms behind structural gender discrimination

Abstract: Previous research has revealed that women are perceived as less competent in comparison to men in the public world. One reason for this is that women are frequently portrayed in traditional stereotypes by the media, which leads to structural gender discrimination, hurting both individuals and society at large. This study applied an experimental approach, building on the Saying-Is-Believing paradigm, in order to investigate structural discriminatory behaviour against women in Sweden when communicating about a public world topic. The aim was to identify the mechanisms behind sexism and how it potentially could be counteracted by the use of priming. The result, based on studies of 179 seniors and conducted with the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory, demonstrated that sexism exists on a general level. However, this identified behaviour was only observable in interpersonal communication after the subjects were first primed with images of non-stereotypical women. The images triggered a backlash effect amongst the men while the women expressed an ingroup favouritism; stressing the media's important role in endorsing a gender equal society.