The boys’ club: gender biases in students’ evaluations of their philosophy professors

Abstract

This paper presents experimental evidence that gender double standards significantly shape evaluative perceptions of men and women professors among philosophy students in Italian universities. Identical lecture passages, delivered either in written form (Study 1, N = 95) or orally (Study 2, N = 92) and attributed to authors with typically masculine or feminine names and voices, were used as stimuli. Participants were asked to respond to teaching evaluation questions. With regard to the written passages, the findings indicate that men participants’ evaluations are significantly influenced by what they believe to be the author’s gender, whereas women participants’ evaluations are not, with the exception of one single factor, namely engagement. In contrast, for orally delivered lectures, both men and women participants exhibit comparable gender biases.