Do Readers Judge Female Characters More Harshly Than Male Characters?

Maria Konnikova writes for The Atlantic: “John is ambitious, driven, and intelligent. He works for a high-profile consulting firm and sits on the advisory board of a political think tank. Hold him in your mind’s eye, and ask yourself a question: In the absence of other information, would you want to be friends with him? Now, let’s just change for a moment John’s name to Joan. Repeat the same exercise. Would you want to be friends with her?”