Starting in the 1940s, women became a powerful and significant part of the American workforce. Since this time, there has been a constant struggle for equality in the workplace. Women have been discriminated against in the workplace in a variety of ways, especially when it comes to leadership and management. Even though there are more women in management roles than men in U.S. companies, the number of women in leadership roles decreases drastically as we move up in the organizational hierarchy. Women make up only 3% of CEOs in Fortune 500 companies, even though they comprise nearly half of the total U.S. labor force (Northouse, 2013). There is also a significant pay disparity between genders, with women making only 77.5% of men’s wages, based on the 2007 national average (Bishaw & Samega, 2008).
Most research on the subject of women’s leadership styles show that there is little basis for suggesting that gender is related to being an effective leader. Research on women’s leadership styles has shown that women lead in a “more democratic or participative manner than men” (Northouse, 2013). Men are often perceived to have a more autocratic or directive style of leadership. Other research has shown that when women lead in a manner that is closer to the perceived “male” style of directive leadership, they may be disparaged for taking on a “traditionally” male role of leadership. Women and men were found to be equally effective in their leadership, but women were found to be most effective when the role itself was not considered a “masculine” leadership role, such as those in the military (Northouse, 2013). Men were found to have more laissez-faire approached to leadership, whereas women were more focused on transformational leadership (Engen, 2003).
One particularly challenging issue facing women in leadership is the concept of the “glass ceiling”. The “glass ceiling” is the idea that regardless of their level of education or qualification, women are unable to progress as far in their careers and will make lower salaries than men (Northouse, 2013). Over the last 30 years, we have seen trend that show a diminishing effect of the glass ceiling, as more women are able to join the ranks of leadership as the highest-income executives in many companies. Today, women make up a larger portion of the top one percent of incomes in the U.S., comprising 18.3% today as compared to just 5.6% 30 years ago (Cassidy, 2014). Another challenge that women face in the workplace is the concept of a “double standard”. The gender double standard describes a paradox that women face, where if they are too assertive or competitive, or push their employees too hard, they will be criticized for being either too forceful or too weak in their leadership style. This issue is discussed in detail in Sheryl Sandberg’s book, Lean In.
In more recent years, the situation has improved somewhat, with women seeing a pay increase to making about 80% of men’s wages, but compensation is still a hot issue and nowhere near perfectly equal. Female CEOs have been getting attention in the media, as they are becoming more common, especially those such as Mary Barra at GM or Ginni Rometty at I.B.M. These CEO appointments are especially important because it shows that women were able to break through into C-level positions in industries which have been predominantly male-centric, such as the automobile industry and computer technology. I believe that we can continue to do more to bring the gap closer to , and end gender inequality in the workplace. This begins with raising awareness of these types of issues facing women in the workplace, and ensuring that companies foster As I wrote in my discussion post, I work in an environment where discriminatory behavior on the part of employees is not acceptable, no matter at what group it is directed towards. I also work in an office which has a much higher percentage of female upper-level managers than in any other office I have worked in, where female managers actually outnumber male managers. According to national statistics, 51.5% of all managers and professionals are women, so these values are actually more expected that one might imagine (Northouse, 2013). I have found that working in this environment has made me much more aware of the disparity that women face in the workplace, and of the double standards that are often applied to them. The organizational culture that this generates is beneficial, as it gives an accurate representation of what a more balanced and equal working environment is like. The issues begins and ends with our perceptions of women in the workplace, and if we are able to change this perceptions we will eventually overcome gender disparity in the workplace.
Bishaw, A., & Semega, J. (2008, August 8). Income, Earnings, and Poverty Data From the 2007 American Community Survey. Retrieved November 23, 2014, from
Eagly, A., Johannesen-Schmidt, M., & Van Engen, M. (2003). Transformational, Transactional, And Laissez-faire Leadership Styles: A Meta-analysis Comparing Women And Men. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 569-591.
The Hole in the Glass Ceiling Is Getting Bigger – The New Yorker. (2014, October 2). Retrieved November 23, 2014, from http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/hole-glass-ceiling-getting-bigger
Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.