A qualitative study of 12 women superintendents identified seven success strategies: balancing role- and gender-related responsibilities; focusing on caring for children; communicating meaningfully in a "feminine," indirect way; refusing to act like men; letting go of gender expectations that block success; becoming fearless risk-takers with…

This paper argues that leadership in higher education should be open to a female leadership model expressed in an Eastern "Tantric" model. Suggesting that a male leadership model that oppresses and excludes women has been in effect for the past millennium, the proposed Tantric proposition is a step toward a shared model of leadership which will be…

The expression of children's concepts of sex-roles was explored by examining changes in the masculinity and femininity of human figure drawings of males and females. A total of 106 sixth-grade students participated in two Draw-a-Person sessions. In the drawing task, persons to be drawn were either specified in terms of gender or unspecified as to…

Discussed are the effects of sexist cultural norms and stereotypes that cause gifted girls to believe they must choose between femininity and intellectual achievement. (LH)

This paper questions some of the assumptions that permeate the current literature about soap operas and television, examining particularly the model according to which soap operas are the expression of an "essential" and universal feminine nature. The paper suggests the pertinence of a crosscultural approach to the study of melodrama as…

Despite recent research showing men capable of nurturing behavior, most men remain reluctant to care for children. Some researchers have suggested that men are fearful of nurturing as a result of traditional sex role socialization while others have suggested an increased role of external factors in explaining the lack of men in child care (pay,…

The Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) has come under much criticism relating to the interpretation of the masculinity and femininity scales upon which its four sex role types are based. To investigate the masculinity-femininity construct using the BSRI under standard self-description instructions and under self-description instructions in one of two…

The mass magazine industry offers new role images for women in contemporary magazines, assuming that they reflect the psychological needs of women's changing sex-role identities. To determine whether women classified as androgynous by the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) would prefer nontraditional models of femininity, 101 college women were asked…

Shostrom (1971) has identified a type of marriage in which self-actualizing couples do not simply accept their socially defined roles, but instead develop personality traits and values that are consistent with their own psychological health and that of the couple relationship. Antill (1983) found evidence for the importance of high scores in…

Major points of this paper are: (a) that the goals of femininity and competence are not necessarily the same, and (b) that little is known about how to rear females to be competent, partly because competence, especially intellectual competence, has never been considered an important goal for females. (Author/AM)

Items from the Femininity (Fe) scale of the California Psychological Inventory were assigned to two logically independent subscales: Feminine Tendency (Ft) and Masculine Tendency (Mt). Architects (n=40) nominated as exceptionally creative and their colleagues (n=43) scored higher than unnominated controls (n=41) on Ft but were not significantly…

Male and female college students were assessed on measures of ego identity development, intimacy development, and sex role orientation. For both males and females, identity was related to masculinity; also, there were more high-intimacy females than males. This low identity-high intimacy finding in women is discussed with respect to proposed…

Presents findings of an investigation of androgynous behavior across situations and within situations, and differences in sensitivity to traditional sex role stereotypes. All types of men were equally sensitive to stereotypes. Feminine women displayed the strongest gender-schema effects, and androgynous women displayed the least effects. (KH)

Challenges previous studies concluding that masculinity and femininity fluctuate as a function of the individual's family life stage. Findings from 582 Australian survey respondents showed that involvement in work and study has a greater impact on masculinity and femininity scores than does the presence of children. (Author/CB)

Study of television's effectiveness in promoting nonsexist role learning found androgynous preadolescent children to be as likely as feminine children, and more likely than masculine ones, to identify nontraditional televised models. (CMG)