Study Finds Men More Willing To Promote Women Leaders Who Support The Status Quo

The researchers designed their study to mirror the common scenario of a male-dominated management team at a company that is seeking to add to its leadership ranks. In the face of a gender-imbalanced team, how likely are current male leaders to select a woman from a pool of equally qualified candidates? And does a woman candidate’s views on the importance of gender equality impact her chances of getting selected for the leadership team?

The study recruited 100 male participants who were told they were part of a company’s six-person, male-dominated management group. Each participant evaluated profiles and interview excerpts from two male and two female candidates who were seeking a position on the leadership team. The candidates were equally qualified, but they varied on their stance toward gender equality.

One male and one female candidate were described as supporting the male-dominated status quo by endorsing the notion that equality was a non-issue at the company. In contrast, one male and one female candidate were described as challenging the company’s male-dominated status quo by demonstrating a communal management style and emphasizing the need to create equal opportunities. So the four leadership candidates were designed to represent: (1) a status-quo supporting male; (2) a status-quo supporting female; (3) a status-quo challenging male; and (4) a status-quo challenging female.

Although the four candidates were equally qualified, the male reviewers did not rate the candidates equally. The male reviewers also did not select the candidates for the leadership position at equal rates.

The men rated the woman candidate who supported the status quo as both significantly more competent and a better fit for the company than the woman candidate who expressed interest in advancing equal opportunities for women.

As a result, the male reviewers selected the woman candidate who supported the status quo 38% of the time, while selecting the woman candidate who challenged the gender status quo only 22% of the time. In other words, the status-quo supporting woman candidate had 2.17 times higher odds of being selected for the leadership position than the status-quo challenging woman candidate.

The men’s reluctance to select a woman candidate who might “rock the boat” by actively promoting gender equality did not reflect a general unwillingness to hire women leaders. The male participants selected the status-quo supporting woman candidate at a higher rate than both of the male candidates, regardless of the male candidates’ views on gender equality.

The researchers concluded that the status-quo supporting woman “functions as a compromise” for male-dominated leadership teams.

“From the perspective of male decision-makers, promoting a woman who endorses existing norms can serve dual purposes,” said the researchers. “It allows men to signal support for gender diversity at the surface level—showing their commitment to equality and deflecting potential accusations of bias—while minimizing structural change to the organizational culture.”

The Dilemma Facing Women Leaders

The study’s findings reinforce the tension that many women experience when seeking leadership roles. Woman may be highly committed to advancing overall gender equality in the workplace, but expressing their views can hinder their individual advancement opportunities.

“Challenging the status quo can carry costs for women’s leadership prospects,” the researchers explain. “Women who explicitly question the legitimacy of gendered workplace norms may be seen as confrontational or disruptive, undermining their chances of success.”

This risk is compounded by pervasive gender stereotypes that already associate men more readily with leadership. Business leaders are more likely to perceive men as “star performers” than women with comparable achievements, according to a 2024 study by researchers from the George Washington University School of Business and the IESE Business School. So top-performing women already receive less recognition than top-performing men.

On top of these existing barriers to women’s leadership advancement, women risk greater backlash than men for speaking up about gender inequality. “Women face steeper penalties than men for confronting sexism,” said the researchers, as women are “more likely to be labelled complainers and evaluated negatively.” A 2024 study found that men who challenge a male colleague’s sexism in the workplace are evaluated more positively by others than women who do the same.

These gender stereotypes can place women who are seeking leadership roles into a no-win situation.

The new study’s finding that men prefer to promote women leaders who support the gender status quo means that expressing support for collective strategies to advance women’s equality can backfire. As the researchers explain, women are often forced to choose “whether to assimilate into the existing culture to advance individually or to challenge the status quo and support systemic change.”

3 Takeaways For Employers To Advance Women Leaders

The new study offers three key insights for organizations that are committed to advancing women’s leadership and experiencing the business benefits that come from gender-diverse leadership teams.

First, the study highlights the importance of understanding that the benefits of diversity require divergent viewpoints. In other words, “we should avoid treating women as interchangeable,” said Francesca Manzi, professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science and one of the study’s coauthors, via email.

“One key takeaway is that organizations need to look beyond the numbers. Diversity is not meant to be a box-ticking exercise,” said Belle Derks, professor at Utrecht University and another of the study’s coauthors, via email. “Representation matters, but the purpose of many diversity efforts is not simply to increase the number of women in leadership, but to broaden whose voices shape decisions.”

“It matters not only who is being selected or promoted, but also what perspectives and approaches are being valued,” said Manzi. “HR and business leaders should be asking: Are we rewarding people because they fit comfortably into the status quo, or because they bring perspectives that can help improve the system?”

Second, the study reveals the structural nature of the barriers to women’s leadership advancement. Derks cautions against viewing the study’s findings as just another example of “individual bias in selection decisions.” Instead, men’s preference for women leaders who support the gender status quo “reflects a broader system in which women are often rewarded for assimilating rather than included in ways that allow them to shape change.”

Companies should actively foster a leadership culture that values new perspectives and thoughtful critique. “Organizations should examine whether they are implicitly rewarding adaptation to the status quo over constructive challenge,” said Derks. “That means auditing who gets selected and promoted, but also asking whether there is real room for difference, dissent, and change.”

“In sum,” said Derks, “don’t just count women at the table, ask who is being invited, what voices are being rewarded, and whether there is room for difference once they arrive.”

Third, the study reveals the difference between meaningful and merely performative male allyship for gender equality.

“Our findings underscore that allyship is not about symbolic gestures or supporting women in ways that leave existing power structures untouched,” said Manzi. “Genuine allyship often means being willing to support women who challenge inequality, even when that creates discomfort or calls for change.”

Men who demonstrate active allyship for women often report their own personal and professional benefits, in addition to improving their organizational culture and bottom-line. In contrast, men who passively accept gender inequality can face negative repercussions. A 2024 study found that men who remain silent in the face of male colleagues’ sexism are often viewed as sexist themselves, which provides another incentive for men to speak up.

“True allyship also involves questioning the standards women are often expected to conform to in order to succeed,” said Manzi. “Allyship is not about helping women adapt better to a system that has historically excluded them; it is about helping create systems where they do not have to.”