Climbing the ladder under pressure: precarious manhood and the ambition gender gap

Purpose Women are underrepresented in high-level positions, which has often been attributed to women being less likely to actively pursue higher level positions. Previous studies have focused on the mechanisms underlying women's career ambitions, ignoring how framings of masculinity relate to the ambition gender gap. Building on precarious manhood theory, we propose that men's higher levels of career ambitions can be understood as a response to their concerns about living up to standards of masculinity and the pressure to prove themselves as “real men”. Accordingly, we hypothesized an interaction between gender identity threat and participant gender in predicting career ambition. Design/methodology/approach In line with previous research, we manipulated gender identity threat versus affirmation by giving participants bogus feedback on a gender identity assessment. Thereafter, we measured participants' career ambitions. Additionally, we assessed masculinity contest culture – based on participants' perceptions of their real-world employer – as a moderator variable. Findings As predicted, results revealed an interaction effect between gender identity threat and participant gender on career ambitions. In contrast to our predictions, however, this effect was not moderated by participants' perceptions of masculinity contest culture. Originality/value By focusing on men and framings of masculinity, our results provide new insights into the mechanisms underlying gender differences in career ambitions. To our knowledge, the current work is the first to demonstrate that gender identity affirmation reduces the ambition gender gap.