Even though the number of educated women is at an alltime high, the representation of women in the traditionally male professions is still extremely low. One likely reason for this paradox, says Harvard Psychologist Matina Horner, is that U.S. women actively fear success.
Horner began looking into this when she discovered that the few studies that had been made of women's motivation for achievement showed they had high anxiety. Reasonably certain that this meant women were afraid of competition, Horner decided nonetheless to test that assumption. Putting men and women in competitive and noncompetitive...