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Abstract
Workaholics experience a number of negative consequences for their heavy work involvement, yet little is known about how these individuals are perceived by others. Women who are
workaholics carry an additional burden as they struggle to balance traditional gender role
expectations with their inner compulsion to work. The current study sought to identify the role
that gender plays in how others evaluate workaholics and whether parental or earner status
impact these evaluations. 793 participants responded to one of eight vignette conditions, which
differed on gender, parental status, and earner status. Contrary to hypotheses that women and
mothers would receive a “double-strike” and be rated negatively, women workaholics received
higher scores than their male counterparts on many variables, including competence, which
traditional gender roles would identify as a masculine characteristic. Workaholic mothers also
received higher evaluations on family involvement than childless women, suggesting that
motherhood may actually improve stereotypes for workaholic mothers. For a subset of the
sample, workaholic fathers were rated higher on job performance than men without children and
workaholic mothers were rated lower than women without children, partially supporting one of
the study’s hypotheses. Findings suggest that women workaholics may be admired rather than
scorned for their perceived ability to “do it all,” although it is important to acknowledge that
these stereotypes do not change the negative outcomes workaholic women experience.