Old men and young women: how objectively are their skills assessed?

Seventy-four male and female undergraduate participants evaluated an essay describing a work of art. They read either a well or a poorly written essay attributed to one of the following authors: a 25-year-old male, a 25-year-old female, a 64-year-old male or a 64-year-old female. Age of target X sex of target X essay quality interactions emerged on four of five dependent variables. In general, essay quality affected evaluations of young male and old female authors, but had little impact on evaluations of young females and old males. The results suggest that young females and old males may be the target of subtle prejudice which causes their work to be assessed unobjectively. They also emphasize the importance of simultaneously manipulating age and sex of target persons in future research. Implications of the findings for the accurate evaluation of elderly males in employment settings are discussed.