President of the United States, Vice President, Justice of Supreme Court and among other high ranked positions have never been jobs held by a women. Instead, these jobs continue to be dominated by men. Women are less likely to been seen in leadership roles. Women are seen as naturally weaker than a male coworker and expected to have children, quit their jobs and be the primary caregivers. What is this teaching the next generation about women obtaining higher job opportunities? Are barriers to women’s success as leaders due to societal obstacles? The article, “Barriers for Women to Position of Power”, is in support of research question due social construction of gender differences. Women and Leadership: A Contextual Perspective, which mimics …show more content…
Barriers to women’s success as leaders is not due to social obstacles but rather other factors. “Barriers for Women to Position of Power” hones in on opposing evidence that illustrates that it is not societal obstacles that hinder women from leadership opportunities but, differing from males in leadership styles, behavioral characteristics. Moral reasoning is an important factor in leadership roles, it can determine if is fit leader can resolve a challenging situation. Women and Leadership states, “the male moral development and therefore the traditional model id human development is conflict- and evaluation-based while female moral development is based on relationships and communication” (Klenke 1996). Men and women have different temperament and cognitive abilities. Women are more commonly associated with communion traits described as “sympathy and warmth and having a concern for other people” (Etaugh 2010). Men, on the other hand, are associated with agentic traits which is depicted ambitious, directive, and all about accomplishing tasks. Throughout history, male experiences have been more commonly seen in society, therefore, their temperament is well established in leadership positions unlike women’s. Women are good with responsibilities, communication, among other lead traits which would be great advantages to have in a leadership position if given the chance, rather than solely focusing on male
Click here to unlock this and over one million essays
Show MoreIn relation to leadership and women, historically women who wanted to seek leadership roles were often seen projecting the traditional masculine model of leadership. This model means to be rational, unemotional and analytic. It also, means in order to succeed traditionally women needed to look and act like a man to be taken seriously in leadership positions. Women in the past often dressed up in suits and ties and anything feminine was seen as an internal “weakness”. To be a leader in power meant to exude confidence in masculinity and shy away from anything remotely girly. As opposed, to the feminine model which casts power as focused on connection and harmony instead of power over something, someone. This power can be skilled through collective gain or physical attractiveness (Kruse 22).
Tamerius, K. (1995). Sex, Gender, and Leadership in the Representation of Women. In G. Duerst-Lahti & R. M. Kelly (Eds.), Gender, Power, Leadership, and Governance. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.
In the American society, we constantly hear people make sure they say that a chief executive officer, a racecar driver, or an astronaut is female when they are so because that is not deemed as stereotypically standard. Sheryl Sandberg is the, dare I say it, female chief operating officer of Facebook while Mark Zuckerberg is the chief executive officer. Notice that the word “female” sounds much more natural in front of an executive position, but you would typically not add male in front of an executive position because it is just implied. The fact that most of America and the world makes this distinction shows that there are too few women leaders. In Sheryl Sandberg’s book “Lean In,” she explains why that is and what can be done to change that by discussing women, work, and the will to lead.
Historically our society drives men and women toward different socially acceptable behaviors and careers. Stereotypically men are the capable breadwinners that choose careers as: firemen, policemen, mailmen, garbagemen, milkmen, and the list continues. However, women are the warm caregivers that may choose one of three titles: teacher, nurse, or secretary. The above career pathways have been driven by societal norms, subsequently leaving women with marginal room for vertical mobility and limited leadership representation.
Meanwhile, men continue to be provided with greater access to leadership roles than women. Given that the majority of the incumbent leaders are men, if the evaluators do not have previous exposure to competent women leaders, they may have a harder time choosing females of equal background and experience over their male counterparts. This perpetuates the cycle of men continuing to dominate the upper management positions, and leadership being equated with stereotypical masculinity. Women have to be more highly qualified than men to obtain the same roles (Eagly, 2007).
This past summer, I was given the incredible opportunity to attend a summer program at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business with a group of other young women who want to advance the role of women in business. The Gannon Center for Women and Leadership is the perfect place for young women like myself who feel as though the dialogue surrounding women’s rights and their ability to lead is very pertinent and important to continue. As a woman who is interested in business, it is clear that the “glass ceiling” is cracking, but has not yet been shattered. Women today have excelled in virtually every field from academics to business and philanthropy. They have become presidents of universities and chairs in Fortune 500 boardrooms. As doctors, lawyers, owners of businesses, and professional athletes as well as politicians, we see many successful and powerful women who make a very positive impact on society. This inspires me in countless
Women are not given the same opportunities as men to receive a promotion. Not only this, but women actually have to work harder for a promotion to “prove themselves” because they are not taken as seriously as their male counterparts in the workplace. This may be the reason we see a significantly less amount of women in executive positions, such as CEO’s, chief financial officers, and other key roles in major companies. “Women currently hold 4.4% of Fortune 500’s CEO roles” (Zarya). Besides the workplace, the government can be used as an example of just how unequal females are to males. Females make up 20% of senators, 18% of representatives (84 out of the 435) and only 6 governors (Chew). If females see that women only make a small percentage of our government, why should they aspire to be like them, if there is a scare that they are going to be rejected based on their gender? Women in power are role models to other females, and if there is a lack in them, females will continue to believe that they will not be able to achieve that kind of
In her paper titled “Functional analysis of sex role” (1949) Mirra Komarovsky, explained why sex roles presented so much mental and social conflict. Many of Komarovsky’s explanations for social dissent concentrated on the issues of time lag and the changing pattern regarding sex roles. Simply put, she identified how behavior, sociopolitical conditions and belief systems trailed behind changing sex-role conditions (as cited in Tarrant, 2005 p. 336). However, despite the changing of sex roles in society in the last few decades, the progress of women in leadership seems to have halted.
This transactional leadership style appears to characterise leadership in tough manly traits, as it is renowned by ‘‘competitiveness, hierarchical authority and high control for the leader and analytical problem solving’’ (Klenke, 1993, p. 330) which is more distinctive of male behaviours. In contrast, women in general fit into a ‘‘feminine model of leadership build around cooperation, collaboration, lower control for the leader and problem solving based on feeling and rationality’’ (Klenke, 1993, p. 330). This style of leadership is closely aligned to transformational leadership with effective leaders being described as those who inspired their followers and enabled them to achieve the goals set by the organisation (Bass, 1985).
When people are talking about CEO’s, Presidents or any other person in a high position, who comes to mind? For most people, the person that comes to mind is a white male. Even in one of the most progressive and modern countries in the world males are associated with positions of power. Gender inequality refers to the unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals based on their gender. Although we have made abundant steps in narrowing gender inequality, patriarchy still continues in society and thus women today have yet to gain the same opportunities in the workplace. Even with acts such as the Equal Pay Act that passed 35 years ago, today, half of the workforce is consists of women, but the average workingwoman earns only 80.9% of what the workingman makes. There is also a lack of promotion in high positions for qualified women in the work force. These are just a few of the work place inequalities that females are faced with. Even with the many steps taken to ensure equality in the work field, the gender discrimination continues to exist.
Gender inequality is a persisting matter of both domestic and international relevance. For centuries, men have dominated existing roles of power and influence - be it politically, economically, professionally or socially. Not only does this system perpetuate internalized patriarchal norms, but political systems dominated by men are often open to the charge of undervaluing policies which affect women more profoundly, such as rape, economic discrimination, reproductive health inequities, social terrorism and so on. This essay proposes that with increased gender diversity in political positions of power, will come gender equality, which will in turn lead to a more peaceful world.
What defines a good leader? Should determinates of an effective leader be based on one’s sex; or rather their overall ability to effectively attain group goals? For years’ research has been conducted to better understand the factors associated with individuals emerging as leaders in a group. The study, “Effects of Sex and Gender Role on Leader Emergence,” focuses on two of these factors; sex and gender role, to see if the held notion that men more often emerge as leaders than women in a group setting holds true (1335). First however, both sex and gender role must be defined to better understand their believed effects when it comes to leader emergence. In this case, “sex refers to the biological and anatomical differences between females and
One topic that arises in management is the lack of female CEOs, especially in the Fortune 500. With only 26 out of the 500 being female in 2013, we question on why this is the case. Are there differences between male and female leaders? While some research argue that there are no gender differences in the leadership styles employed by men and women, others support the idea that there is a difference between male and female leaders on how they lead. By exploring the literature research on both views, we would then be able to get our own conclusion on whether there are differences.
Throughout the past century, women have accomplished great progress in the movement towards equality within our society. As the gap between male and female roles have closed, opportunities have increased for females within industrial, political, and military fields. However, these career fields are still largely seen as a “man’s world.” With predominantly male leaders, females who have risen to positions of authority often struggle to find footing and take charge as their male counterparts do. In the article “How Can Young Women Develop A Leadership Style?,” The Wall Street Journal pinpoints relevant challenges women face as leaders and provides constructive feedback for arising leaders
Through the entire history we saw how human beings were fighting for power and their rights. Men or women, they were looking for power. Some people wanted that power to use it in a wrong way, for example, slaving others or steal people’s belongings. Other wanted that power so they can be equal. People of color wanted that power to be equal with white people, in most cases, and women wanted that power so they can be equal to men. It was not an easy journey and as we can still see it today all the problems are not fix yet and so there’s still women out there, fighting constantly, so we can all be equal.