[tedks]

There are a number of studies testing this, and the consensus that emerges from meta-analysis is that women tend to be liked, or respected, but rarely both. Cuddy (2005) is the citation I've memorized for this.

In contrast, men have no problem being liked and respected in positions of power. Women managers tend to be viewed as nurturing pushovers or bitches.

It would indeed be simpler if liking decreased as social distance increased, but the world is not always so simple, and a thousand years of gender stereotypes and oppression don't end in a century.