Statistics of Women:
National Center for Education Statistics, 2011
- Women earn more that 57% of Bachelor’s degrees
- 60 % of Master’s degrees, and
- more than half of the doctoral degrees (as cited in Northouse, 2016)
Catalyst, 2014c
- Women as U.S. Labor force: 46.8%
- Women Fortune 500 CEO: 4%
- Women Fortune 500 board seats: 16.9%
- Women Fortune 500 executive officer positions: 14.6% (as cited in Northouse, 2016).
As we see in the brief statistics above, despite the major success of women in the educational pursue, the number of women who take leadership roles is significantly disproportionate. There are many barriers that prevent women from reaching leadership positions in organizations. Women tend to take a role of “facilitator or organizer instead of leader”, and “self-promoting women are less socially attractive and less hirable” (Northouse, 2016, p. 403). Also, there are prejudice and stereotypes against women, and societal expectation for women makes it difficult for them to take leadership roles. Northouse (2016) stated that because gender stereotypes are automatically activated, biased judgments are easily made. To make the situation complicated and worse, the PSU lesson commentary (2017) pointed out that women leaders are seen more negatively when they exhibit masculine style leadership; however, women using feminine style are seen as less effective than men (p. 2). Women are subject of unconscious social biases regardless their behaviors and manners.
Although it is generally considered that there are gender differences in leadership styles, Northouse (2016) noted that many of academic researchers argue that there is little or no relationship between gender and leadership style and effectiveness. One major difference is that women leaders approach more “democratic and participative manner than men” (Northouse, 2016, p. 402). In addition, women’s leadership style tends to be more transformational than men’s (Northouse, 2016), and transformational leadership is “one of the most popular approaches to leadership” that can be applied to many fields of work such as “nursing, education, and industrial engineering” (Northouse, 2016, p. 161). Moreover, According to Eargly and Karau (1995), there is no difference in actual effectiveness between women and men leaders (as cited in PSU WC L.13).
However, due to existing biases and prejudice against women and social expectations for them, it is obviously difficult for women to reach and enjoy the same management positions as men do. Women have to maneuver fine lines between what is acceptable and what is not acceptable socially, and they have to act accordingly to be accepted. Northouse (2016) even pointed out that initiating negotiation or self-promotion likely to cause negative impact on women.
In addition, women generally have more than one role, which is taking care of their home and children in addition to take responsibilities at work. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2007, 63% of the domestic work and sixteen hours of household work are performed each week by women, while only ten hours of household work was performed by men (as cited in Kerri, 2015). The National Sleep Foundation in 2006 indicated that the average sleeping time of working mothers was less than 6 hours a night (as cited in Kerri, 2015). Women have stressors of maintaining dual roles, staying competitive at work and running smooth household business, and they have to have strategies to combat those multi tasks. According to Hattery, “women can be successful when they are supported by partners, family, friends, child care teammates…” (as cited in Kerri, 2015, p. 125); in other words, women need to have collective support to be successful at work. Kerri (2016) stated some strategies employed by actual successful women which include: balance career and personal life, domestic help, pursue personal interests, receiving childcare services, building networks outside of their employment, work at home, work part-time, flexible hours, etc. According to Kerri, even some women choose not to marry or not to have children. In addition, some women use some negative strategies including “acting helpless” or “withholding sex”. The list may sound encouraging for women as if to say “you still can be successful if you have solid strategies”. However, it is almost sad to see the long list of strategies, and it seems to be telling you that unless you have lined-up and collective strategies, the possibility of your success at work is very slim.
Northouse (2016) stated nicely, “the leadership gap will not be closed without a concurrent focus on closing the gender gap at home” (p. 411). As a part of society, we need to reconsider our gender roles and expectations imposed on each gender.
References:
Kerri, C-H. (2015). Chapter seven: Strategies for work-family integration. Women in Ledership and Work Family Integration. (pp. 123-150). Retrieved from https://psu.summon.serialssolutions.com/search/results?s.q=women+in+leadership#!/search/document?ho=t&l=en&q=women%20in%20leadership&id=FETCHMERGED-psu_catalog_a191923833
Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice. Seventh Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2017). PSYCH 485 Lesson 13: Leadership and Diversity. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1834746/modules/items/21755220