NCJ Number
100251
Journal
Negotiation Journal Volume: 1 Issue: 4 Dated: (October 1985) Pages: 349-358
Date Published
1985
Length
10 pages
Annotation
Openended interviews with 12 female and 12 male mediators were used to determine the influence of mediator gender on professional mediation practice, comediation, mediator neutrality, mediation goals, and role transitions.
Abstract
All of the mediators interviewed were recognized as highly skilled by their peers, and they represented a variety of mediation settings and content foci. Generally, women were more aware than men of the problems of legitimating themselves in their mediator role. They believed their gender to be a disadvantage in establishing credibility with the parties. Regarding attitudes toward comediation and teamwork, the women were more likely than the men to envision the mediator role as collaborative and to view comediation as a means of supplementing their skills. Women were more reluctant than men to define their mediation role as 'neutral,' as they tended to be committed to a just resolution of the dispute. Women mediators tended to view mediation as a dynamic process that transforms participant attitudes whether or not agreement is reached. Men generally perceived mediation as a businesslike process of reaching an agreement. For both men and women, their experience as mediators led to a role transition from being a mediator to training others in mediation. Men explained this shift as a tiring of mediation, and women interpreted it as a developmental process. 22 references.