Until Barack Obama became President of the United States, it seemed nearly impossible that a change in diversity at the highest level was even possible. Even though Barack Obama broke down a barrier, he was still a male. Males have long dominated politics and it was no surprise that a male would win the election, but this year is different. This year, there is a great possibility that a woman could be our next President and her name is Hillary Clinton.
Now, I am no fan of Hillary Clinton, but I will have to admit that she has come a long way to break a ceiling that has only been accessible to men. The male dominated world of politics hasn’t been particularly accepting to women in years past which has been a deterrent for women going into this line work. Just like when Barack Obama became President, if Hillary Clinton becomes President there will be a sense of hope that others can follow in her footsteps. Hillary Clinton has broken the stereotypical labels all of her life. She filled roles that were typical for men, like senator of a New York state and Secretary of state. Northouse states, according to role congruity, the agentic qualities thought necessary in the leadership role are incompatible with predominately communal qualities stereotypically associated with women, thus resulting in prejudice against females.” (2016)
Groups like Emily’s list have a purpose of getting more women into politics and end the prejudices that are associated with females in leadership positions. Eagly & Karau, state that there are “findings that indicate less favorable attitudes toward female than male leaders, greater difficulty for women to attain top leadership roles and greater difficulty for women to be viewed as effective leaders in these roles (2002). This underscores the difficulty that women have, versus difficulties that men have when trying to getting ahead. Unfortunately, in and out group associations have created social dominance orientation that allow members of a group to receive special treatment. As social dominance would have it, “people are often motivated to protect their groups, so they behave in ways that maintain their group’ (PSU WC, 2016, L. 15, p. 8). In other words, white men have looked out for one another over the years. It was in the best interest of progressing male dominance that white males regularly placed other white male in certain positions in order to keep their interest moving forward.
While diversity does happen, I think it takes the help of both transactional and transformational leader to help bring major changes about. Hillary Clinton being in this race, has made such an impact on other women. Burns explains that “transactional leadership involves exchanges that occur between leaders and their followers and transformational leadership is attentive to the needs and motive of followers and tries to help followers reach their potential by engaging and connecting with them” (1978). Hillary Clinton has made promises that she will protect the country, that that she will maintain President Obama’s policies and that she will do everything that she can to help women succeed. Her transformational and transactional leadership qualities have gained a number of followers this election cycle. For women, they have long dreamed of a woman reaching this level in her career. This potential win for Hillary Clinton is a win for all women because she would have changed the arbitrary set system, a system determined by human beliefs that has long dominated in favor of men. This does put a lot of weight on her shoulders to perform well. If she doesn’t perform well, this will be considered a large setback for women and confirms a few notions that men have that women do not have that it takes to be in leadership roles.
To conclude, Hillary Clinton has passed a milestone that has been a major hurdle for women to climb, particularly in politics. The political hierarchy isn’t made to be in a woman’s favor, but Hillary Clint has proven that it is possible to break through the mold.
Reference
Burns, J.M. (1978). Leadership. New York: Harper & Row
Eagly, A. H., & Karau, S. J. (2002). Role congruity theory prejudice toward female leaders, Psychological Review, 109.
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice, 7th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus. (2016). PSYCH 485 Lesson 15: Diversity and leadership. Retrieved June 30, 2016, from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/su16/psych485/001/content/09_lesson/01_page.html.
Whitney Alexis Wade says
I believe that this blog provides positive insight on the importance of both transactional and transformative qualities. You are absolutely correct in assessing the importance of Secretary Clinton breaking “glass ceilings” that served as barriers to women in politics. If she does become President I think a new conversation will arise questioning if the ceiling that was broken still provides access to women of color. Similarly to life before President Obama, while everyone was certain that a male could be President People were uncertain if men of color could be afforded that opportunity.
However, I am not sure that if Hillary Clinton is elected President that opportunities would be afforded for women of color. I believe that in order for more barriers to be broken down it is required that there be more situations with women of color in the political system. The election for Hillary Clinton in my mind breaks down barriers for women but does not break down barriers for women of color.