Women More Likely To Shun Business Careers As 'Evil'

There's been much debate as to why women only make up just 4.2 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs. Is it discrimination? The high-pressure atmosphere? Women's failure to "lean in"? A new study suggests another possible explanation: business can be dirty work, and women would rather stay clean.

Past research has found that women make more ethical corporate directors, restricting executive pay and curbing risk. (They're also more likely to whiste-blow.) But the perception of business as inherently muddied by ethical compromises may actual deter more women from getting into the game in the first place.

According to a new study published in the journal "Social Psychological and Personality Science" in March, women are more likely to be morally outraged at the ethical compromises that come with business, less likely to want to take a high-salary job in business if there are ethical compromises involved, and more likely to associate business with immorality in general.