I was looking for sex differences in member perceptions of their
respective team's functioning. 140+ work teams were divided into three
categories - all female or female dominated (2 to 1 female), all male or
male dominated (2 to 1 male), or mixed (even # of men and women. I only
found one difference. Members of all female or female dominated groups
report that those groups exhibit more dependency, need for direction etc.
To be certain that this was a sex difference, I split the group up on
other dimensions ( e. g., size, group age, and status of members). Status
turned out to account for the difference. That is, low status groups
(containing members with lower status jobs, less education etc.) report
that their groups are more dependent than higher status groups. This is
true of lower status female dominated groups vs. higher status female
dominated groups.
What at first appeared to be a sex difference turned out to be a status
difference. I think the finding speaks to the reality of lower status
groups. They are more dependent since they report to many more authority
figures than higher status groups.
Susan Wheelan
-- +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ | | | SUSAN WHEELAN SWHEELAN@TEMPLEVM | | PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDIES IN EDUCATION SWHEELAN@VM.TEMPLE.EDU | | TEMPLE UNIVERSITY (215)204-6015 | | | +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++