EMPOWERING TOKEN WOMEN LEADERS - THE IMPORTANCE OF ORGANIZATIONALLY LEGITIMATED CREDIBILITY

We hypothesized that, in a masculine task, only token women leaders wh o were empowered through position (by being appointed leader) and expe rtise (trained with task-relevant information) and legitimated by a ma le experimenter as credible would be more effective in influencing the performance of their all-male groups than appointed-only and appointe d-trained leaders. Thirty women undergraduates each led a small group of male students on a moon survival task. The hypothesis was supported . Videotapes of group interactions revealed that appointed-trained lea ders interrupted group members and used tentative tag questions in fai led attempts to share their task-relevant knowledge. In addition, grou p members reported the most dissatisfaction with appointed-trained lea ders who, without legitimacy, violated diffused gender roles by presum ing to be expert on a masculine task. The importance of the organizati onal empowerment of token women is underscored.