Leadership and Diversity: When will Women Win?

I was getting curious about diversity in leadership and specially along the lines of gender. Women for the longest time have not been known to be the leaders, CEO’s, politicians, etc. However, have they already won out the rights to other kinds of leadership roles? We see how women are the first to be trusted as leaders over children, in the PTA, as babysitters, day care owners, teachers, etc. So why is it that women are building our nations leaders in the classrooms and child rearing departments, but not included as big organizational  leaders and business tycoons, etc.? In this post I will be exploring how gender stereotypes and sexist cultures have been holding women back, and how it makes no sense to trust women in key parts of leadership for the growing society, children, but not in the current day to day society of business and politics.

Women are showing just how capable they are in leadership, and society has no problem empowering them, granted it’s related to traditional gender roles. For example, we see how women are dominating the PTA meetings, and running the leadership positions. Studies found that “Majority were female (90.5%) and nearly three-fourths” when it came to PTA demographics (Regis et al., 2022). The PTA is in charge of essentially improving school conditions for the children and fostering a strong community, members of the PTA are not paid, it is considered charity work. Women dominate the make up of PTA’s because it is one of the only places society has deemed it appropriate for women to make decisions and have power, when it comes to children. This is by no mens a light responsibility. Women are set up to raise further leaders, and teach valuable skills to their kids, including soon to be men. So why is it that women can be in charge of raising the leaders, but not being the leaders themselves? This all ties into historical gender roles. Men have aways been defined by their ability to work and provide for a family. Most of America’s roots are found in conservative religious ideology and this its one man and one women together in a monogamous marriage that is governed by a set of unspoken rules and expectations. Gender norms have been dictated out of religious contexts, such as a man having power and calling the shots, while women were treated as property and expected to slave away to fulfill all needs of the man, not just sexually, but meal preparation and child rearing. This is the history we know, however as times have changed, women are more free to empower themselves and work and study in school etc., but even in business they are being held to gender roles. For example, in our text it was noted that “women were devalued compared to men when they led in a masculine manner” even though it was found that “men and women were equally effective leaders” (Northouse, 2021). The statistics show that men and women are equal, but we still see how a woman has to prove she is effective without using the same approach men use, otherwise she will be judged and rated negative and then prevented from further growth opportunities in the company. This systems relies heavily on evaluation by means of the gender roles scope, which is setting women up for failure. A woman can be a leader, but only if she goes against her gender norms, which in turn makes her dislike and halts her growth before she can break the glass ceiling. It is ludicrous! Women are in a tough spot because of harsh gender roles and rules our society has formed over time. There must be a shift n how society defines gender roles, and even more so how explicit we value gender conforming individuals, in other words, break the glass ceiling by breaking the rule of gender norms!

Women are just as educated and capable as men to be leaders, but sexist cultures hold women back from growth in their careers. We saw how gender roles and stereotypes limited women growth, but these were just the building block for a culture of sexism. In our text, research shows how “women earn 50% of all law degrees” yet “one make up 22.7% or partners” and this stands true “even though women represent 40% of those graduating with MBA’s (Northouse, 2021). These statistics are wild! This is basically showing that women are combative at the same level as their male counterparts, but are getting less than a fourth of available jobs. There are already significant roadblocks for women going to school, because society encourages them enough as it is to choose the family life, but the fact that these women re getting into school and are equally competitive, yet only getting less than a quarter of the leadership roles, shows a clear bias and sexist culture in our society. Men are using “in group favoritism” by selecting other men to succeed over female counterparts. The culture of sexism in the workplace has come along way but still keeps women at bay. If this were the PTA, all of those women who earned the degrees, would have gotten all of the jobs in the PTA, but the minute a woman is taken out of her place in society, she is doubted, and that is a sexist culture at work, even if the men are unaware of it as they make decisions. This is what makes having a diverse work place such a challenge, when people operate off of their unconscious bias and when a culture of en in charge is so strong that no one really questions it. On example I think of is when I was just a kid and I was on the lake with my grandma and her thirty year old son. She had all of the experience of a veteran boater and she took her safety rules very seriously. She had always been in charge of the boat, she was the leader if you will. On that day a storm was coming in, my grandmother knew immediately that we needed to get off the lake for safety. Her son however, felt he knew best and was already steering the boat. He basically brushed her off and kept us on the lake, things got wild and my grandmother tried to step in, but he refused to let her and even said to her to “let the men handle this” so, clearly he had no faith in this woman, who had all of the years of experience and expertise over him. Sure enough we got caught in a storm, the boat was damaged, and the day ended with all of us safe, but the boat in ruins. I can’t help but see this as applicable to our lesson, if my grandmother would have been trusted, on her merit alone, not related to her gender, then we would have easily stayed safe, and avoided damages, etc. I wonder how many companies are facing their own storms and refusing to promote the women with the expertise and solutions. The culture of sexism is making it tough for women to lead and step into leadership roles.

All in all, women are great leaders, and are responsible for raising the generations, but until we can stop gender roles rom dictating our options in the workforce, and sexist cultures, there will never be true equality and diversity in leadership. Women have the skills and the know how, but men refuse to see it, there is a long history of exit ideologies that still inhibit women from reaching the success they are deserve. The same can be said for any individual that isn’t a white man, because white men have a history of power and it’s a boys club that must be broken down and infiltrated. Luckily diversity is being taken more seriously and hopefully someday soon, we can see numbers show a fair distribution of power and leadership among the races and sexes, etc. 

References

Northouse, P.G. (2021). Leadership: Theory and Practice. (9th e.d.). Los Angeles: Sage Publications. [VitalSource Bookshelf version]. bned://ZiO6VvsMnWk-vrb5tJmdqbnJeGTmLZEOcqkIdHJSHo4.

Regis, D. P., Belleza, I. A., Adtoon, J.P., Cahulogan, B.R., & Sinfuego, J.S. (2022). Status of Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) in the New Normal. International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Studies. 2(7) https://www.ijams-bbp.net/archive/vol-2-issue-7-july/status-of-parent-teacher-association-pta-in-the-new-normal/