This article presents results from two complementary experiments that examine the effects of a potential obstacle to female leadership: gendered language in the form of masculine leadership titles. In the first experiment (N = 1753), we utilize an unobtrusive writing task to find that a masculine title (“Chairman” vs. “Chair”) increases assumptions that a hypothetical leader is a man, even when the leader’s gender is left unspecified. In the second experiment (N = 1000), we use a surprise recall task and a treatment that unambiguously communicates the leader’s gender to find that a masculine title increases the accuracy of leader recollection only when the leader is a man. In both studies, we find no significant differences by gender of respondents in the effects of masculine language on reinforcing the link between masculinity and leadership. Thus, implicitly sexist language as codified in masculine titles can reinforce stereotypes that tie masculinity to leadership and consequently, weaken the connection between women and leadership.

本文介绍了两个互补实验的结果，这些实验检验了女性领导的潜在障碍的影响：以男性领导头衔形式出现的性别化语言。在第一个实验（N =  1753）中，我们利用一个不显眼的写作任务来发现男性头衔（“主席”与“主席”）增加了假设领导者是男性的假设，即使领导者的性别未指定. 在第二个实验中（N = 1000)，我们使用意外回忆任务和明确传达领导者性别的处理方法，发现只有当领导者是男性时，男性头衔才能提高领导者回忆的准确性。在这两项研究中，我们发现在男性化语言对加强男性气质和领导力之间联系的影响方面，受访者的性别没有显着差异。因此，隐含在男性头衔中的性别歧视语言可以强化将男性气质与领导联系起来的刻板印象，从而削弱女性与领导之间的联系。