Gender and Sexuality Stereotypes of Lesbian Women in the Workplace

How are lesbian women perceived at the workplace? This study investigates how gender, sexual orientation, and job type might simultaneously influence warmth and competence assessments of women in the workforce. While recent literature has extensively studied stereotypes affecting hetersexual women, there is little focus on how sexual orientation and job type might simultaneously influence perceptions of lesbian women. This study employs a 2x2 experimental design investigating if there is a job type effect and/or a sexual orientation effect that influences subjects’ perceptions of the target’s warmth and competence using the Stereotype Content Model (SCM). This paper hypothesizes that (1) lesbian women in agentic jobs, as compared to heterosexual women, will be perceived as more likable and more competent, and (2) lesbian women in communal jobs, as compared to heterosexual women, will be perceived as less likable and less competent. While these hypotheses were not supported by the experimental data, the results identify important areas of future research.