We seek to understand cognitive processes that contribute to the exclusion of women from leadership roles. One classic argument is that leader prototypes are predominantly male and that women fit these prototypes to a lesser degree than do men. With our research, we add that even if gender-balanced leader prototypes existed, cognitive processes likely play a role in keeping women out of leadership positions. Our proposed answer lies in the gender prototypes held by men and women. Specifically, in order to maintain their status, men hold prototypes of women that are characterized by positive attributes to a lower degree than are their prototypes of men. Women, in contrast, do not make such distinctions in their gender prototypes. Results from three studies are consistent with these arguments. They point to a pattern of subtle discrimination, such that men perceive women not as worse than men on negative attributes, but men do view women as not as being as good as men on positive attributes.