The Reverse Matilda Effect: How Does Focusing on Women in an Academic Field Affect Its Attractiveness?

It is often assumed that highlighting the contributions of female researchers to academic fields may make those fields more attractive to women, thereby encouraging female participation. The present study (n=802) aimed to test that assumption by investigating the impact of messages highlighting the contributions of women researchers to mathematics, psychology, philosophy, literary studies, and biology on the perception of those fields. We found that these messages did not encourage women to participate in the respective academic field. And more strongly they led both women and men to see that academic field as less interesting and worthy of study. We propose that the effect observed here, and previously not discussed in literature, is the reverse of the well-known Matilda effect, where the contributions of female researchers to academic fields are underappreciated to the point of erasure or misattribution to men. We also argue that these effects are the result of gender stereotyping that takes what are supposedly male characteristics as better suited for research work that what are supposedly female characteristics. Finally we suggest how to counteract this reverse Matilda Effect.<br>

学界普遍假设，强调女性研究者对学术领域的贡献，可提升该领域对女性的吸引力，进而促进女性的参与度。本研究（n=802）旨在检验这一假设，通过探究强调女性研究者对数学、心理学、哲学、文学研究及生物学领域贡献的宣传信息，对受众关于这些领域的认知产生的影响。研究结果显示，此类宣传信息并未促进女性参与对应学术领域；更值得关注的是，其反而令男女受众均认为该学术领域的趣味性与研究价值更低。本研究提出，本次观测到的、此前未在文献中被讨论过的效应，与广为人知的马蒂尔达效应（Matilda effect）截然相反：后者指女性研究者对学术领域的贡献被低估，乃至彻底湮没或被错误归因于男性。同时，本研究认为，此类效应源于性别刻板印象——该刻板印象将所谓男性特质视为比女性特质更适配科研工作。最后，本研究提出了抵消这一反向马蒂尔达效应的可行路径。