How Women Lawyers Avoid the Likeability v. Competence Trap
In a series of recent papers, Andrea Schneider has explored the “likeabilty v. competence” trap that seems to confront many women in leadership and professional positions. In her view, the trap is typefied by media coverage of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin in the 2008 election. Clinton was commonly portrayed as competent, but unlikeable, and Palin the reverse.
Now, Andrea has a new paper that discusses some of her own empirical research showing that women lawyers seem largely to avoid the trap, at least in negotiation settings. She and her coauthors consider why this might be and how women lawyers might avoid the trap in other settings.