Women and Leadership
“This is a man’s world,” said James Brown. Years ago the leadership roles were masculinized. Although women are underrepresented in the top leadership positions, in today’s society women’s positions in the corporate and political system has started to increase. The majority of women are no longer choosing to be a stay at home mother. They are choosing to get their college degrees and go to work in the corporate world. They earn almost 60 percent of undergraduate degrees, and 60 percent of all master’s degrees (Warner, 2014). Not only are they mothers, daughters, and wives; they are also professionals and leaders. The women today are working their way up to leadership roles within their organization. Women are proving to be just as effective as men in their leadership roles. There are noticeable differences between women and men’s leadership styles.
The majority of women lead in a more democratic manner than men. With women in charge the members are given the opportunity to participate, ideas are exchanged freely, and discussion is encouraged. Even though the majority of women lead this way they still have the final say and have control of the environment. As a leader in my organization I encourage input from my followers because they are a valuable part of the organization. Ultimately, when it is time to make a final decision I take all information into consideration before making that decision. Women utilize contingent rewards to promote quality duty performance. In my occupation I have incentives that are given out to the organizational members when they have exceeded my goals.
Gender stereotypes are easily and automatically activated and they often lead to biased judgements (Northouse 2016, pg 404). Women are labeled as less competent and warmer emotionally than men. Within this last year the military began to recruit women into combat jobs. The women are going through rigorous training just as the men to see if they are able to qualify for those demanding and physical jobs. These women will pass their training and go on to be great leaders who will inspire other young ladies aspiring to be appointed in what once was a male’s role. Hillary Clinton is currently running for President. She feels strongly in her leadership capabilities that she can go out and run against the men in order to become the next President of the United States. She is proving to be very effective in running her campaign, but only time will tell as to whether the United States will have their first female President.
Women are only 14.6 percent of executive officers, 8.1 percent of top earners, and 4.6 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs (Warner, 2014). It is always a proud moment for me when I see women in high leadership positions. In my occupation it is becoming more common to see a woman in a high position. It is always interesting to know their background and how they made it to where they are now. As a female in a male dominated occupation, it is inspiring to see women being empowered and confident enough to want to become the leaders. There are now indications that women are beginning to make an impact on organizations using their own style of leadership and are no longer adopting the masculine style of leadership (Moran, 1992). A woman does not have to be tough and out spoken to fit in with the males. A woman can lead by being intelligent, compassionate, caring, and charismatic. If her subordinates feel that she is genuine and actually cares then they will respect her for that alone.
Women have really stepped up in the leadership role in today’s society. Their effectiveness is leading them to be successful and climb the corporate ladder. They are now showing that not only do they have the mental strength to compete with the men in these leadership positions, but they also have the physical strength to compete with the men. Women’s presence in leadership positions will continue to grow. Strong women in leadership is great for mission accomplishment because these women have a lot of leadership to bring to the table. The leadership differences between men and women are indeed noticeable, but both sexes have proven to be effective leaders.
References
Warner, J. (2014, March 7). Fact Sheet: The Women’s Leadership Gap. Retrieved September 25, 2016, from https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/report/2014/03/07/85457/fact-sheet-the-womens-leadership-gap/
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Moran, B. B. (1992). Gender Differences in Leadership. Retrieved September 20, 2016, from https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/7791/librarytrendsv40i3h_opt.pdf?sequ..
Great post!
Women in leadership roles is definitely a topic that needs to be continued for many reasons. You brought up many interesting statistics that I was not as familiar with including but not limited to the percentage of women who are earning their college education or already have as well as how many women are currently in top management roles. “Women are only 14.6 percent of executive officers, 8.1 percent of top earners, and 4.6 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs.” (Warner, 2014) Thank turns out to be approximately 23 Fortune 500 Companies. But I ask. Why is the number so low? We are in modern day times where there are many successful women. We have in fact continued to grow the number of women interested and who have ran inthe presidential election as well (Victoria Woodhull 1872, Gracie Allen 1940, Shirley Chisholm 1972, Linda Jenness 1972, Jill Stein 2012, Sarah Palin 2008 and Hillary Clinton 2016)
You mention really important reasons on why women could still be moving up in more important roles including gender discrimination. The evolution of leadership really began in the early 1900s. According to Northouse (2016) In 1927, leadership was defined as the “ability to impress the will of the leader on those led and induce obedience, respect, loyalty, and cooperation.” Not long after mid-20th century, the Trait Approach developed. If we took out the gender stereotypes and only utilized an approach like this for choosing our leaders, how many more women would be elected?
According to a recent study, both male and female employees prefer having a male boss to female boss. Individuals were asked why in fact they prefer a male leader over a female and the response – stereotypes and misguided information. “Misguided perceptions and stereotypes about female leaders at all levels of the workplace may be playing a role in employees’ preferences over who’s the boss.” (Wirthman, 2014)
According to Wirthman (2014), “One assumption about female leaders is that they are better nurturers—and they are.” Females scored higher than males on leadership traits including developing others, building relationships and collaboration. (Wirthman, 2014) In addition, “women also scored higher on leadership traits often attributed to men, such as taking initiative, driving results and being a champion for change” nothing that women are in fact, well rounded leaders.
So why when we have this information are we still struggling to have confidence to put women in leadership roles? Why is it that we still have so many misguided reasons for not pursuing a female in such a role this day and age. With a strong identifier such as trait approach, we are able to seek out those strengths that we are in need of in an individual and utilize them. Northouse (2016) reminds us that the trait approach can offer us invaluable guidance in recognizing traits in both leader and follower.
Works Cited:
Pennsylvania State University. PSYCH 485 – Leadership. https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1803831/modules 2016.
Northouse, Peter G. Leadership: Theory and Practice – 7th edition. Chapter 2 – Trait Approach. SAGE Publications. 2016.
Wirthman, Lisa. Forbes.com. Women Score Higher on Leadreship Metrics, So Why Do We Prefer Male Bosses? http://www.forbes.com/sites/northwesternmutual/2014/12/18/women-score-higher-on-leadership-metrics-so-why-do-we-prefer-male-bosses/#2f908f067a04 2014.