Do Women Engage in Less Task Behavior Than Men?

Abstract

The overwhelming evidence from data collected in mixed-gender groups is that men originate more behaviors related to solving the task confronting the group than do women. However, efforts to detect whether men and women interact differently in same-gender task groups have produced less consistent findings. Some studies report men originating more task behavior than women, but others report no such difference in task behaviors. We examine data from an experiment in which men and women participated in a decision-making task in two types of same gender groups. In type one, no initial differentiating structure was introduced into the group prior to interaction on the task. In type two, initial differentiating structures were introduced prior to the interaction on the task. We examine the effects that these differentiating structures have on the interaction patterns in these groups, as well as the effects that the gender of the subject has on these interaction processes. Experimental results show that in type one groups, similar power and prestige orders emerged in all-female and all-male groups and that there were no significant gender differences in the rates of task behaviors in these groups. In type two groups, initial differentiating structures organized power and prestige orders, and overall there were no significant differences in the rates of task behavior between all-female and all-male type two groups. Theoretical arguments from expectations states theory are presented to account for these findings.