In many instances this topic may cross your mind from experience or knowledge, partially learning about Leadership and Diversity women equality crosses mine. Throughout this lesson I have learned about women and leadership, a variety of explanations, barriers women face, difficulties that all individuals inherent in working with people from other cultures and genders. I did some research and happened upon an article with an Australian woman, she discusses past and present delivers a new understanding of aspects of indigenous and non-indigenous women’s leadership in a variety of local, national and international framework. The framework of this article shows women on the rise emerging into leadership. An interesting part to this article is “Beyond the glass ceiling: The material culture of women’s political leadership”, which is super relatable to our lesson on culture and leadership.
“Senator Newman was at one point labelled the most powerful woman in Australian politics and a contender for Australia’s first female governor-general” (Damousi, Rubenstein, & Tomsic, 2014). Her experiences as has a politician were far from perfect as she encountered many stereotypical interpretations because of her gender, including the way she dressed, her character as a mother and a wife, all in attempt to demoralize her authority as a effective female politician. Another powerful woman in politics Julia Gillard, first female prime minster was taunted by the fact that she was the opposite she was unmarried and no kids. “An empty fruit bowl in her kitchen that she was photographed in front of in 2005 was singled out as ‘evidence’ of her lack of authority to hold senior office” (Damousi, Rubenstein, & Tomsic, 2014). Pretty much anything that people can make significance about they will try to display anything against a powerful woman.
In the Northouse chapters research started by people asking if women can lead? That is drawn to many dimensions and many conclusions, but in the middle, there are many barriers that women face in leadership. Something called Labyrinth,
“the gender gap in leadership is a global phenomenon whereby women are disproportionately concentrated in lower-level and lower authority leadership positions compared to men” (Northouse 2013). These women In this article faced barriers of stereotypical rationales that women cannot lead, however they did.
This book as contributed to the understanding of diverse kinds of leadership and culture and as well as gender and leadership. Capturing and perplexing the masculine model on which leadership is traditionally biased. “Identifying outstanding women leaders to demonstrate their significance in inspiring the actions of others within a range of activities, and also to consider the fragility of women’s capacity to take up leadership roles after they gained formal expressions of citizenship” (Damousi, Rubenstein, & Tomsic, 2014). As we experience more about gender cap and, negations concerning the role of gender at work.
Understanding the significance of diversity in the workplace, making these places more diverse and more accepting to gender equality is making its way still in today’s society. With women becoming more powerful, we are seeing more women take on these higher positions, defeating sex role stereotypes. Like the powerful women in this article that I read, in the lesson the same connection was trying to be made to the one politician once women start acting “like women” or “like men” they will be portray in the opposite matter than they were trying to execute. There are organizational, interpersonal and personal barriers that women face in leadership. “There are organizational, interpersonal and personal barriers that women face in leadership” (Northouse 2013).
Women thus are expected to (Northouse 2013):
- Take risks, but not be consistently outstanding
- Be tough, but not macho
- Be ambitious, but know they will not receive equal treatment
- Take responsibility, but follow others’ advice
References:
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership, Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage.
Damousi, Rubenstein, K., & Tomsic, M. (2014). Diversity in leadership: Australian women, past and present. doi:10.26530/oapen_515955