Angry Women Still Get No Respect

angry men are strong; angry women are off-putting. it’s an everyday bias that study after study has confirmed. But what about situations where anger is appropriate? Does it help a female trial lawyer delivering an impassioned closing argument at a criminal trial? To find out, Jessica Salerno and colleagues at Arizona State University filmed male and female actors delivering real closing statements. Nearly 700 participants watched videos of each actor, and most were more likely to hire an angry man—the emotion made him “commanding” and “persuasive”—than one who was calm. The opposite was true for women: Anger came off as “shrill” and “obnoxious”; the more restrained, the better their job prospects. As the authors of the study noted, this is likely not news to the generations of women “who have been penalized for expressing the same emotions as their male counterparts.” Small consolation, true, but sometimes it’s helpful just knowing your instincts are right.