According to research, there is a dichotomy that exists between two sexist ideologies: one type of sexism believes that women are to be protected and taken care of while the other believes that women are inferior to men. These sexist ideologies are responsible for stereotypes against women. They are so ingrained into our culture that women and men are often unaware of how they affect the dynamics and demographics of leadership in the workplace. As women redefine traditional gender roles and climb the corporate ladder, holding positions of power previously only held by men, these stereotypes continue to be counterproductive obstacles that women must overcome.
Back in 2011, ForbesWoman published an article on the ten worst stereotypes facing women in the workplace today. These stereotypes reflect how dangerous biases regarding women’s success can be and how they are still a part of the collective subconscious a decade later.
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No 1. The Ice Queen
Thank the media for this stereotype. From movies to magazine covers, powerful women are often represented as emotionless and uncaring ice queens. The only alternative is a woman who is the opposite, emotional and unstable, which makes her unfit to lead.
No. 2. Single and Lonely
Women cannot have families and successful careers. If a woman seeks a power of position, she is better equipped to be single and childless and thus able to devote her time to her career.
No. 3. Tough
A tough woman is often seen as unfeminine and aggressive, while this same trait is celebrated in her male counterparts.
No. 4. Weak
Women often seek consensus from their followers, and this participative and democratic type of leadership can be viewed as weak and indecisive.
No. 5 Masculine
Women often feed into this stereotype that insists a powerful woman must dress and act like men to be successful.
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No. 6. Conniving
This damaging stereotype asserts that to get ahead, a woman must be conniving and manipulative as her talent simply is not enough.
No. 7. Emotional
This one is tied to a long-standing joke among both women and men regarding female bosses. Women are seen as prone to emotional outbursts making them inferior to men. God forbid a woman is emotional in front of her colleagues; hence another ugly joke about a certain time of the month will ensue. Often passion is mistaken for emotion further perpetuating this stereotype.
No 8. Angry
Men showing their anger in the workplace is acceptable and expected. If a woman displays her anger, once again, she is viewed negatively and seen as unstable.
No. 9. A Token
Statistically, far fewer women hold high-level leadership positions than their male counterparts. Those numbers decrease even more for women of color. Many women who attain executive positions are often seen as a diversity token or a box checked by the company rather than earning the job based on education and experience.
No. 10. A Cheerleader
Women who display their femininity are often seen as cheerleaders versus strong leaders.
At any given time in a woman’s career, she is likely to face one or more of these stereotypes as well as contribute to the perpetuation of such stereotypes. Men are seen as strong, assertive providers, while women are viewed as nurturing and social creatures that provide comfort. To overcome such common stereotypes, companies and their employees will have to let go of cultural biases and embrace initiatives that allow women more access to leadership positions.
What are some common stereotypes or biases you have encountered, and what will you do to help overcome them?
Sources:
Goudreau, J. (2011, October 24). The 10 Worst Stereotypes About Powerful Women. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2011/10/24/worst-stereotypes-powerful-women-christine-lagarde-hillary-clinton/?sh=487219dd61ca
Moran, R.T., Abramson, N.R., & Moran, S.V. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences (9th ed). Chapter 5. Routledge.
Excellent read, thank you for your post! Your post really helped me develop my topic idea for this course’s paper. Looking at women in the workforce in other countries and the beliefs/values surrounding it. In some countries very much a completely untapped highly talented workforce. It would also be interesting to look at the US and understand how values and norms played a role in the development of the issues we are now trying to solve. Maybe cultural due diligence surrounding beliefs/attitudes. Again, thank you for your fantastic post, there is a ton of value in these blog posts!
Great post! Loved your ending question- short answer: I try to put myself in situations where my strengths are maximized to the fullest potential, often in an attempt to out run anything negative due to my gender. I have spent a lot of time researching what is tied more to the stereotypes plaguing my gender- and venomously fight against them. It’s a battle for sure.
Professionally, I work in a quasi-male dominated field/industry, but for a company that has been in business for over 150 years. While my organization in many ways has a representative workforce that lacks diversity, we do boast a heavy female led leadership team. Like so many, I have been working since I was a teenager, after more than a decade in finance and holding leadership positions, as a female, I cannot tell you how #7 and #8 bleed into really being another beast. Women are emotion laden by nature, I fear. I am not necessarily saying that being emotional is bad, after all, we are humans, not robots. Yet, men cuss and/or raise their voice and it’s chalked into being passionate. Women elevate their voice, make decisions, and it is often observed as being aggressive, curt and/or unbecoming.
I do think that professional women must be constantly aware of not only what they say, but how they say it. Exercising the right amount of emotions can not only afford one serious strategic advantages- gauging the situation, enhanced perspective, winning others over, possibility of better conflict resolution, and just overall efficiency. While women equal men in the workforce, and “many organizations are working to hard to leverage workforce diversity and gender equality so that all people can succeed”, this will certainly not happen overnight or possibly in my professional life. (Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014) It is important that we continue to make strides to change the gender stereotypes that attempt to make blanket assumptions.
Maggen
References
Moran, A., Abramson, N. & Moran, S. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences. New York: Routledge.
Hello Michelle,
I really enjoyed reading your post and feel it vitally important to continue bringing this topic to the forefront of societal conversations. I certainly believe that women, amongst many other demographics that don’t fit the “white, tall, dark, and handsome male,” have a much tougher time climbing the corporate ladder than their white male counterparts. As the case can still be made here in 2021, is there a reason why you chose this particular article from 2011?
I found an article from the BBC titled “Why do we still distrust women leaders,” published in January of 2021. It highlights the public’s perceptions of women leaders around the world and some of the same stereotypes from the article you selected. We have seen progress with women being in leadership roles but not much progress in public perceptions and stereotypes surrounding powerful women. As we dig into this topic, we are indeed discussing “women leaders,” which in itself is progress.
You mentioned in your post “token.” More specifically, companies checking a box. This brings up something quite interesting; diversity. I believe most all companies are checking boxes when it comes to diversity and implementing diversity policies. If a company desires to have a diverse workforce, then checking boxes is exactly what’s going to happen in the hiring process. Of all the stereotypes mentioned, I believe this particular one to be the weakest as it can apply to many demographics.
Diversity is accepting people for who they are. Progress can continue to be made as long as people can understand the simple truth that diversity is powerful and as every human being in this world is different, accepting those differences is the only way we will see equality in the workplace.
Again, I really enjoyed your thought-provoking post.
Reference:
Ro, C. (2021). Why do we still distrust women leaders? Equality matters. BBC. Retrieved from: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210108-why-do-we-still-distrust-women-leaders.