Raising Awareness of the Glass Cliff

The glass cliff refers to the higher likelihood for women (vs. men) to hold leadership positions in struggling companies because they were appointed during a crisis. We tested whether awareness of this phenomenon influences perceptions of gender inequality, sexism, and collective action intentions for women’s rights. In four online experiments ( N total = 1,333), participants (1) were informed about the link between women CEOs and negative company performance, (2) were additionally given a glass cliff explanation, or (3) only completed our measures. A meta-analysis showed that the explanation reduced sexist beliefs (very low heterogeneity) and potentially increased collective action intentions (low heterogeneity) but did not influence perceptions of gender inequality (moderate heterogeneity). These studies provide an empirical basis for sexism interventions.