Towards the end of 2011 it was announced that the human population had reached the milestone of 7 billion souls in which, approximately 52% were women, yet women are underrepresented in leadership positions. In the United States, men take the majority of political leadership positions despite the fact that women are the slight majority in the United States. The United States is considered by many as a country of equality and opportunity, yet America has yet to elect a female President. The idea that women are not fit to lead is a misleading gender role assigned to women many nations. But like any truth there are exceptions, those that flow away from the river of the majority. There are a few cultures which allow women to lead equally with …show more content…
The culture of the Mosuo and Minangkabau definitely promoted the capability of women to rule, which in turn implies inequality towards men but this is far from the truth because men have leadership roles as well, in the daily lives of the Mosuo and Minangkabau people. The truth of the Mosuo and Minangkabau is that there is equality in their cultures because both men and women have prominent roles among their people. Men are usually spiritual and leaders in global politics while women are leaders in business and domestic politics. Unlike modern societies where men dominate women in almost every leadership positions in every field.The existence of feminism, a movement started in the late 19th century,is a continuous effort to prove gender stereotypes such as, women not being fit to lead to women being bad at driving, wrong as well as to create equality between men and women. That may make many wonder how there could have been women leaders before the invention of Feminism but throughout history there have women leaders who have led their countries and kingdoms towards prosperity. The truth of it all is that gender roles are a product of society that did not exist up for a until creation of great civilization and even then gender roles were not a large part of common
In 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).
The gap between men and women produce three important concepts that reason the difference. First is the discussion of the better leader- men or women? It has been studied that women approach their followers with an interactive style with the encouragement of sharing power and information with others, participation, and self-worthiness to others. On the other hand, men have a consistency to be more task-oriented in their leadership styles and emerge in short-term conditions. The simple claim that women are just different than men, can be argued with the idea that men have effective traits for leadership. Women are less likely to negotiate and as a leader, this leads to lack of communication. And as discussed, leadership’s main ingredient is communication. Without it, nothing gets across to followers, and nothing is reciprocated to leaders. As a leadership position becomes larger and larger, (such as a CEO’s leadership position) there are fewer and fewer women holding these positions. The biggest question is why? Generally, females and males share the leadership values, work equally as hard to accomplish their goals, and react accordingly. Society plays a huge role in the gender gap. Some jobs aren’t even offered to women because of their gender and women
Fisher, H. The Natural Leadership Talents of Women. In Enlightened Power: How Women are Transforming the Practice of Leadership.
402). Our gender differences and leadership styles can work in our favor and against us; I think it is contradicting, in the way we send mixed messages, while a lot of people, especially in the modernized Western world do accept a female to control the household and does it well, yet; at the workplace females are perceived as being too emotionally consumed to get a task completed. By nature, and nurture, each gender in most cases acts differently; this could be because of our biological hormones and way each gender is raised, apparently, it is not so nowadays. The problem is should we keep letting it slide by being bias or is there something that can be done to encourage and promote gender equality and respect for one another that goes beyond the responsibilities society requires of each
Wilson, Marie C. Closing the Leadership Gap Why Women Can and Must Help Run the World. New York: Viking Adult, 2004. Print
It can easily be seen that while men were considered to be the most powerful and wisest humans and gods, women had the power to significantly influence these men. From Uta-napishti's wife who convinced Uta-napishti to tell Gilgamesh about the plant that would make him young again to the examples mentioned above, several women were put in roles that had important effects on the men they encountered. Of course, this is not much different from the society we live in today. While many may believe that women have still not reached the point of true equality, it is hard to say that they are inferior and the significance of their roles in society is undeniable.
Throughout history, women have been mistreated as the weaker gender. It has been evident throughout the epic of Sunjata, the history of Greek society as well as Indian society. It is evident today with the social classes we have formed that there are predominant gender roles in our society; history as we know tends to repeat itself.
Feminism is a perspective that views gender as one of the most important bases of the structure and organization of the social world. Feminists argue that in most known societies this structure has granted women lower status and value, more limited access to valuable resources, and less autonomy and opportunity to make choices over their lives than it has granted men. (Sapiro 441)
When you think of a CEO of a company or of world political leaders, do you think of a man or of a woman? Many, if not most of us, see these positions as being held by men. In this essay, I will explain why women are still not equal to men. In the first paragraph I will discuss inequalities that happen in the workplace. The second section will show the differences that occur within the athletic world. Thirdly, I will explain the differences in education and home life. Even though we are approaching the twenty-first century, women in our society are still not equal to men.
...oven with the success ruler of Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth and other female country ruler such as the legendary Queen Cleopatra of Egypt. The typical assumption of women should always a pace back men contributes to the failures of women in many fields. Gender inequality affects women massively and they are restricted to prove that they are equally capable as the men. However, with proper measures to be taken to solve gender inequality, women would not be left out from experiencing the same privilege as men do. Several measures such as making changes at district and state level mechanism, law of torts and family law would definitely be a good start in breaking the stereotype thinking of the society and help them to discover the breakthrough potential of women. And with some encouragement, who knows that women might one day stand on the same position with men.
Women have qualities that make them more adaptable to the emotional climate, to handling conflicts, to think about the development of people and their human needs, compassion, care of the planet, commitment and responsibility. Who better than a woman who is prepared to deal with responsibilities in leadership positions with unique features to handle such matters. Female leadership is a model to take into account, a model to support and one which we can expect excellent results in a sustainable and equitable manner for all involved. Every day women face the challenge of reentry into the job market, and being the primary caretaker for their children, compounded with diversity issues and concerns. For these reason it is challenging to be a women with power in leadership.
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).
Today, women are entering the leadership sphere, which is mainly occupied by men. Many women leaders believe that people perform best when they feel good about themselves and their work. An effective leader creates results, reaches goals and deadlines, and quickly recognizes vision and objectives with high level of quality and productivity. To accomplish these, a leader should have special qualities like able to motivate others, specific and technical skill set, clear sense of purpose, mission, clear goals, focus and commitment. Over the years, women have proven themselves to be successful leaders as men. For instance, Oprah Winfrey, one of the most successful and famous African-American women in history to have made a huge impact and difference
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
Women are continuing to see management opportunities slip through their fingers because the company doesn’t feel like they’re capable of doing a worthy job. “For example, a fire chief may repeatedly pass over a female firefighter for promotion, due to resentment stemming from women applying to the force or due to a belief that men inherently perform better in these positions”. Stereotypical people are looking at women and judging on whether they’re capable of doing a task. It’s unfair to the women that actually are capable and those who want the chance to do something out of their comfort zone. How many men find it unbearable that a woman out-qualifies them in an even competition? Ever played a monopoly game and if the guy loses he says that he let the girl win? Men think that women can’t compete with them, but yet they just can’t accept the fact that women actually can. “Even the most ardent feminist must admit that women are indeed different from men, but this should not be seen as being inferior to men in the workplace (Lovedays)”. Yes, men are stronger and can do m ore things, but women can provide more than companies realize. Franchises are losing out on how having a woman as an employee, can truly help them in the future. “The studies really are stacking up and decision-makers within organizations are starting to notice the evidence that gender-balanced leadership