When the Advantaged Become Disadvantaged: Men's and Women's Actions Against Gender Discrimination

Intergroup theories suggest that different social identities will either discourage or encourage the taking of action against discrimination (Bartky, 1977; Jost & Banaji, 1994). However, research (e.g., Branscombe, 1998) has shown that discrimination is a less negative experience for men than for women. As such, it is possible that men may take greater action than women, regardless of identity. However, men's response to their perceived disadvantage had not yet been tested. Among those induced to ascribe to a gendered stereotype identity, men endorsed more action than women did. Among those induced to ascribe to an identity based on a gendered social experience, women endorsed marginally more action than men did. Differences in responses are proposed to be a function of the different efficacy levels developed by each gender within each social identity.