Women Leaders: Unnaturally Blonde
The satirical article, Mattel Just Released An Interim CEO Barbie! pokes fun of the precarious and temporary leadership positions that women tend to end up in. The spoof reflects, probably unwittingly, another pattern of women's leadership: The (Interim) CEO Barbie is blonde. Blonde women are stereotyped as dumb but are disproportionately represented among women leaders in North America. Almost half of the female S&P 500 CEOs are blonde. Over a third of female U.S. Senators (42% of female Canadian Senators) are blonde. These proportions are far above the natural occurrence of blonde hair in North American adults. Many firsts in female leadership are also blonde: The first female U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O'Connor ; the first female U.S. vice presidential candidate, Geraldine Ferraro ; the first serious female U.S. presidential contenders, Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina . Even women presidents of prestigious universities are likely to be blonde: Drew