According to a recent report from Tetyana Pudrovska, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Texas-Austin, and Amelia Karraker, assistant professor in human development and family studies at Iowa State University, women in leadership positions are more prone to depression than men. It seems the ability to hire, fire and influence pay is more likely to lead to signs of depression for women.

The findings are based on a longitudinal study of 1,300 men and 1,500 women in Wisconsin who were surveyed repeatedly between 1957 and 2004. It reveals that men in leadership positions feel fewer aggravations than women in similar positions because they don’t have to overcome the social resistance that women often face. Having men in charge is the “expected status hierarchy,” said Pudrovska in this NBC News article.

Furthermore, women executives are evaluated more stringently compared to women without job authority and male co-workers, Pudrovska asserts, adding that “higher-status women are often exposed to overt and subtle gender discrimination and harassment, which contributes to chronic stress.”

What are your thoughts on the findings of this survey? Do you agree that women executives are judged more harshly and held to a higher standard than their male counterparts? Or maybe you disagree? Let us know. We’d love to get a conversation started on this topic.