Women in leadership are hard to come by due to the subconscious and conscious bias from individuals in powerful leadership roles. Unfortunately it manifests itself from a number of different places when a woman trying to climb up the corporate ladder, According to Business insider report it says that women only hold about. 30, or 6% of CEO Positions at S&P 500 companies (Gillette & Madison 2020). Another survey was taken across companies who had more than 13 million people, this year held more CEO from 2015-2019 with about a 15% point increase in the number of companies who had at least three women in their C-Suite. The article also states that women are underrepresented at entry level, not only at the top tiers of management, where even women of color are also even more underrepresented with only about 5% of presidents or Vice Presidents being people of color (Gillette & Madison 2020).
According to our lesson “Schein found that bias in sex role stereotypes created problems for women moving up through managerial roles, and that being a manager was defined by attributes thought of masculine” (PSU W.C L13 2016). Although these are considered very outdated ideas and were considered conscious decisions at the time, modernization of the corporate world has changed the environment and who can be considered someone in a management position, but oftentimes women are looked after due to unconscious bias (Gillette & Madison 2020) brought on by stereotypical gender norms stemming from individuals succeeding in the corporate lifestyle. The lesson pointed out a good problem with the ideas surrounding gender roles “women should not act like men. If women leaders act like men, they are perceived negatively because they are not acting in ways consistent with their gender role. However, if women act too much like women they are not seen as effective enough leaders” (PSU W.C L13 2016). The lesson suggests that there is no happy medium for women to follow in order to be successful in the corporate environment and due to the gender roles that are placed upon them it makes it nearly impossible to succeed.
Northouse (2013) gave us three reasons as to why few women reach top executive positions. Those being that they have not been in managerial positions long enough for them to naturally progress to the tops of organizations, that they lack general managerial experience, and women are less suited to executive demands, are not qualified for these positions, and lack self-confidence. Well first of all I think that with all of these obstacles in their way and what it seems like everyone at the top wanting them to fail I am pretty sure I would lack self-confidence as well.
As I said in my discussion post, this seems like a vicious cycle set up from the individuals who do not want people not like them to succeed, Northouse (2013) says that a reason there are few women in managerial positions are due to lack of management experience, well in order to obtain experience one must be able to obtain a spot in order to learn the information and soak up all the knowledge available to them. On top of that Northouse (2013) explains that women have not been in managerial positions long enough for them to naturally progress to the tops of organizations, well in order for this to happen a woman has to be offered a position in the seat as a managerial or leadership role. This is not a problem at the top that needs to be addressed, it needs to be reworked from the bottom up, get more women into leadership roles from the beginning so they are able to gain the experience, and be in the position for a period of time, and by keeping them in this position for a period of time it crumbles Northouse’s third reason of not being qualified for the position and the lack of self-confidence.
Besides the viscous cycle based upon Northouse (2013) application of why women aren’t in high level positions. In addition to the glass ceiling and social issues stopping women from getting ahead, there are also barriers. Barries are conditions and practices that put women at a disadvantage (PSU W.C 2016 L13)- if they were not disadvantaged enough already. They are expected to seem if the job comes easily to them instead of struggling at all and it considered negative if they put in more effort due to higher standards of performance, also there is the idea of preferences for gender similarity where people of high positions of power want and or prefer to work with people who look and act similarly to them, which makes it insanely difficult for a person of color or women to break the mold of what a corporate executive is.
Gender Prejudice is another problem facing women in the workplace. The idea presents around the idea that “many people believe that a good manager/leader is masculine. This preconception still operates today, although it has decreased in the last 30 years” (PSU W.C 2016 L13). Prejudice is defined as a preconceived judgement or opinion (Merrimack-Webster) but that’s just the idea, its preconceived- not detailing any truth behind the idea. With the idea of the gender prejudice needs to be broken by the by cycle and with more women CEO’s and people in corporate America it helps break down these gender prejudices where it can show others in the environment that women can be successful in high positions of power. The other kind of personal barrier that sets up women to fail is the idea of the work form home conflict “women are often left to care for the children, or non-work responsibilities. Often this means that women need to take time away from work” (PSU W.C 2016 L13). Although these are cultural standards it does not mean that it has to be the case and should not be taken into consideration while finding a candidate for a job. I even take into consideration my own personal upbringing where my mom worked a typical 9-5 and my dad was a firefighter so he would work 24 hours and have 3 days off, breaking the traditional molds because my dad was the one cooking dinner, cleaning, carpooling because he had a much more flexible schedule than my mother did. That’s all these instances are, molds; they are not rules where if broken one will get in trouble.
References
Gillett, Rachel. “Gender Bias Could Make It Harder for Women to Become CEO, According to
Recent Study.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 17 Apr. 2020,
www.businessinsider.com/why-women-almost-never-become-ceo-2016-9.
Pennsylvania State University (2020). Leadership in work. Module 13: Introduction to Leadership and Diversity. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2075467/modules/items/30110534
Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. 7th Edition. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
whoops forgot to add my reference!
Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. 7th Edition. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Hi,
I really appreciated your post. Great job! I would like to say that i completely agree here with your ideas on women and leadership. Women have come a very long way and i think current events are going to sling shot women into equality with men. From day one until women fight for equal rights and although there is a culture lag, more recently that lag is being forced to propel forward. Everything from the recent events with the riots, to the elections, and electing our first woman into vice presidency! This proves that women can do it too! I have never felt more empowered! Northouse discusses how we need to break the glass ceiling, and the vice president Kamala Harris showed that she did this (Northouse, 2016). She gained experience, She worked her way up, and she fit her style into that of her male counterparts in the same position (Northouse, 2016). She demanded respect and that threw her into her position in such a great way!
Contrary to much of Northouse’s discussion on women not fitting in, I like how you put a twist on this with your research and made it all a very positive outlook for women. However the one thing i want to add is that i feel women are more transformational leaders in general not so much servant anymore. I would say servant leadership in woman may have been the type of old fashioned women, from generations ago. I think now women are looking more not so much to serve in leading but to understand and form these helping relationships.
I apologize for my error! My references should be in the opposite order:
Catalino, N & Marnane, K. (2019). When women lead, workplaces should listen. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/leadership/when-women-lead-workplaces-should-listen#
Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. 7th Edition. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Hello,
I very much enjoyed your post! In fact, my most recent blog post was similar to yours in that I discussed the power of female leadership during the time of America’s first woman vice president. I am a feminist. Since childhood, I have been raised to believe that I can achieve anything that I put my mind to regardless of my gender. Therefore, I am disturbed to see that in the 21st century, women are continuously deemed inferior to men in the work environment. I was particularly disturbed the read Northouse’s (2016) description of the three reasons that woman rarely obtain top executive positions. Northouse (2016) suggests that it is common notion that woman lack managerial experience, women are less suited for the executive demands and woman are generally less qualified for the role due to subpar self-confidence. I believe that women are extremely fit to lead at the highest levels. As Kamala Harris displayed with her historical vice presidential victory last week, woman are capable of anything, including guiding a country during the time of a global pandemic.
In a McKinsey & Company article, Catalino & Marnane (2019) indicate that woman bring a new perspective to the previously male dominate leadership roles. Catalino & Marnane (2019) suggest that women are able to broaden the leadership model. Male leaders tend to exert their power in the form of dominance, control and authority (Catalino & Marnane, 2019). Women demonstrate a divergent form of leadership characteristics, such as listening and collaboration (Catalino & Marnane, 2019). Furthermore, Catalino & Marnane (2019) discuss a fascinating survey that suggests that women often show traits that are more applicable and effective for future global challenges than men. These traits include inspiration, participative decision-making, expectation and rewards, people development and role modeling.
Catalino & Marnane (2019) present characteristics that pertain to the servant leadership approach that Northouse (2016) mentions in his text, Leadership Theory and Practice. Northouse (2016) implies that servant leadership involves a leader being very concerned with his or her followers, suggesting that the leader must demonstrate empathy. Additionally, Northouse (2016) indicates that servant leaders empower followers in order to help the followers attain their full potentials. Northouse (2016) mentions the ten characteristics of servant leadership, which directly correlate with the Catalino & Marnane (2019) article. Some of the main characteristics that Northouse (2016) notes are listening, empathy, commitment to the growth of the people and building community.
While servant leaders do not have to be female, it appears that women tend to embody the characteristics of the servant leadership approach more than their male counterparts. Northouse (2016) never mentions servant leaders acting weak or unconfident. Therefore, both Northouse (2016) and Catalino & Marnane (2019) imply that good leaders do not have to control their followers through the aggressive tactics of oppression and command. Rather, leaders can be effective and influential yet ethical and relatable.
I am thrilled to see Kamala Harris exert a female presence in the White House this January. I think she will add a new, beneficial component to the political dynamic. I have no doubt in her success as a leader because, as your title states, “women can do it too!”
Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. 7th Edition. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Catalino, N & Marnane, K. (2019). When women lead, workplaces should listen. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/leadership/when-women-lead-workplaces-should-listen#