Creativity is Gendered: The Perceived Association Between Masculinity and Creative Ability

In the current research, we propose that lay theories of creativity are gendered in nature and that the gendering of creativity contributes to gender inequality in the workplace. Specifically, we hypothesize that men are assumed to be more creative than women, and that this phenomenon can be explained by the tendency for creativity to be associated with traditionally masculine traits. We present archival evidence that men’s ideas as seen as more inventive than women’s ideas (Study 1) and that male business executives are viewed by their supervisors as more innovative in their thinking than female business executives (Study 2). We then present experimental data showing that a product is judged to be more creative when it is attributed to a male creator compared to when the exact same product is attributed to a female creator (Study 3). Finally, we provide direct evidence of the proposed mechanism underlying our effects. Study 4 demonstrates that creativity is more strongly associated with stereotypically masculine traits compared to stereotypically feminine traits, and that this pattern is particularly pronounced when creativity is defined as divergent thinking. Study 5 demonstrates that a male manager who act in a stereotypically masculine way is evaluated as more creative compared to baseline, while a female manager’s perceived creativity is not affected by her engagement in identical behavior. The male manager’s boost in perceived creativity is mediated by attributions of agency and predicts economic reward deservingness.