The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 41, No. 2 & Volume 42, No. 1 - 31

How Expectations Do Not Equate with Practice

the gender roles that individuals occupy. Students showing male-linked personality traits
working within small groups on a collective
task were more likely to emerge as leaders in
those groups. These male-linked traits are socially associative characteristics that are often
used to assign masculinity to a person or object
(Kushell & Newton, 1986; Rodler, Kirchler,
& Holzl, 2002). Traditional male and female
roles often fall distinctly within the conﬁnes
of these dichotomous associations for leaders,
where one will take on the male leadership role,
and the other the female (Etaugh & Liss, 1992;
McHale, Crouter, & Tucker, 1999). England
(1988) found that female leaders, even those
with postsecondary education, were compartmentalized into maternal and domestic work
roles. Students entering the residence setting of
postsecondary education carry these social understandings for gendered leaders with them
and may apply them as rules of conduct for the
leaders they encounter in the new environment.
Predetermined role expectations from students
could create a contradictory space for resident
assistants who are expected to offer nurturance
to students, as well as serve as disciplinarians.

The residence setting needs

Discrepancies between the expectations
and subsequent experiences of females in
student leadership positions may be apparent
if individuals identiﬁed as female are expected to be both nurturing and exhibit malegendered traits to access leadership. Romano
(1996) explains that, because of the existence
of predetermined expectations for female
leaders, female student leaders must modify
how they lead in order to comply and be recognized. Romano also observed that "men were
intimidated by their assertive, outspoken temperaments" (p. 680) if women were direct and

The residence setting needs to be considered a potentially gendered space, but in existing literature the resident assistant is instead
understood as removed from the difﬁculties
associated with gender and social interactions.
This is best illustrated by the work of Blimling (2003), who authored the guiding text
in resident assistant training and education.
This text, now in its seventh edition, does not
address the diversity that is inherent in the
population of individuals who choose to work
in student leadership while in postsecondary
institutions. There is no mention in Blimling's

literature the resident assistant
is instead understood as
removed from the difﬁculties
associated with gender and
social interactions.

ﬁrm. Women in the study shared that the complexity of leadership issues they dealt with was
not taken seriously by other students. Forrest,
Hotelling, and Kuk (1984) found that women
face subtle forms of discrimination within
educational institutions, which prevents them
from fully pursuing leadership roles in the
student body. This ﬁnding was echoed by Astin
(1993), who found that some women were held
back by the difﬁculties of being perceived as
aggressive personalities.

The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 41, No. 2 & Volume 42, No. 1

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 41, No. 2 & Volume 42, No. 1