February 10, 2008 8:18 PM

Yet another reason women are damned if they do, and damned if they don't
Posted by Diane Danielsonat 8:18 PM

Today's NY Times looks at how women leaders are subject to double standards.  One would hope we'd eventually get beyond all this ...

In particular, one lesson from this research is that promoting their own successes is a helpful strategy for ambitious men. But experiments have demonstrated that when women highlight their accomplishments, that’s a turn-off. And women seem even more offended by self-promoting females than men are.

This creates a huge challenge for ambitious women in politics or business: If they’re self-effacing, people find them unimpressive, but if they talk up their accomplishments, they come across as pushy braggarts.

The broader conundrum is that for women, but not for men, there is a tradeoff in qualities associated with top leadership. A woman can be perceived as competent or as likable, but not both.

Click here to read the full story.