Gender stereotyping affects women’s path to leadership, in various ways. The most demonstrative way stereotyping of this nature affects occupations and professions is through the way in which it limits women for opportunities for greater income potential, promotions and higher more respected statuses in the work place. Because women are stereotypically portrayed as more committed to their traditionally domestic responsibilities than their vocational responsibilities, they are sometimes overlooked for consideration when applying for work. Their male counterparts are a more attractive option, given the also traditionally stereotyped greater commitment to their jobs versus home life (Dubeck and Borman, 1996).
The double standard women are faced with as they aspire to greatness in leadership roles makes it difficult as well. They are supposed to exhibit “manly” attributes or skills as leaders, but as a gender, they are pressured to be feminine and “womanly” (Northouse, 2013). Because of this pressure to live in the stereotyped world of gender, women are less likely seen as top runners for leadership roles. They are deemed ineffective in leadership roles (PSYCH 485, 2013).
Women are further challenged in the world of leadership because, historically, they have also had less opportunity for training, which would increase their level of skill (Northouse, 2013). This is in part, due to organizations that expressly exclude women from free or company paid training. Men, however, are not excluded and do not have to pay out of their own pockets. Women are generally lumped in to care-giver and/or service related vocational roles. It is assumed that they should pay for their own training to advance themselves. Because of the stereotype that women are more likely to obtain these types of jobs due to their domestic natures, they are limited in training opportunities, job advancement and the potential for higher incomes and promotions (Dubeck and Borman, 1996).
The greedy institution concept of professional work; namely the occupation of law makes it harder for women to portray themselves as “committed”. The long and demanding hours required for this type of work put pressures on women who already have gender role conflicts. This is to say that women are seen as less likely to succeed or to be less committed to their professions because of the socially prescribed gender roles as family care takers as their main priorities (Dubeck and Borman, 1996). The concept of the mommy track is noted in our lesson’s readings. The mommy track is the path women often choose which favors their role as domestic caretakers because that’s the role that society has prescribed for them (Northouse, 2013).
Despite statistics showing a greater number of women with higher education, women are still not showing up in the numbers when it comes to stats in leadership positions in our nation’s elite and powerful corporations (Northouse, 2013). All of these issues noted above, have been part of a term called “the glass ceiling” (Northouse, 2013); a term that reflects ascension into leader roles, up to a certain point but no further. A more recent term called the “leadership labyrinth”, coined by researcher Eagly, suggests that the term glass ceiling is not wholly fitting because it infers that “everyone has equal access to lower positions until all women hit this single, invisible, and impassable barrier” (Northouse, 2013, p. 353). Rather, Eagly likes the labyrinth philosophy because it reflects “challenges all along the way, not just near the top” (Northouse, 2013, p. 353), for women versus men.
There have been and no doubt will continue to be, fine examples of women who continue to press the envelope and set the bar ever higher for other women in leadership roles. Despite the historical, gender-riddled challenges women have had to face, I like this story of a women who pushed her envelope and followed her dream to become a world-renowned lady pioneer of her time:
Amelia Earhart
(Retrieved from http://www.ameliaearhart.com/about/bio.html).
No stranger to disapproval or doubt, this tomboy turned world-renowned aviation history maker defied all manner of conventional female behavior. Her name? You guessed it, Amelia Earhart! Amelia Mary Earhart to be precise. As a young girl, Amelia started early, defying the stereotypes for women in the workplace. She kept newspaper clippings of other women who were working in male-dominated fields, such as the film making industry, engineering, law, advertising and many others. These women inspired her. She realized as a young adult in her 20’s, after taking a ride in an airplane with a local pilot, that she was destined to fly! She defied all stereotypes and gender roles about what women were supposed to be. For herself at least, she redefined her gender roles and sought a life in the air where she would inevitably receive the high honor of becoming the first female aviator to fly the Atlantic. She received huge amounts of recognition and praise, not the least of which came from then president Calvin Coolidge.
Amelia’s dedication and perseverance in pursuit of her dreams separates her out in history of one of the bravest, most accomplished women of all time. Certainly she wasn’t a seeker of the typical life, as she sought to conquer any obstacles (financial and otherwise) and follow the dreams that many deemed inappropriate for a women to seek. It’s not that she didn’t follow traditional avenues in pursuit of education and employment at first. She graduated high school, attended a finishing school in Philadelphia but left in her second year to work as a nurse’s aide in a military hospital during WWI. She attended college too and took a job as a social worker. It was during this time in her life that she decided to pursue flying lessons and just 6 months after she did, she’d saved enough money to buy her very own plane! The rest, as they say, is history!
I believe Amelia’s desire to seek a nontraditional occupation or status in life (because flying wasn’t necessarily her occupation but her passion), was innate. I believe she just was the way she was. Perhaps her parents encouraged her to be all that she can be and never tried to fit her into a traditional mold and thus grew up knowing that she didn’t have to feel stuck in the gendering stereotypes that so many others felt trapped by. However, to say that she didn’t struggle with many adverse and opposing forces and prejudices would be untrue. In fact she did, but she broke the mold and in turn showed the world, that….women can fly!
References:
Dubeck, P. and Borman, K. (1996). Women and Work: A Handbook. Rutgers University Press.
Family of Amelia Earhart. Biography. Retrieved from http://www.ameliaearhart.com/about/bio.html).
Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice (6th edition). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.
Penn State World Campus (2012). PSYCH 485 Lesson 13: Leadership and Diversity. Retrieved from: https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/su13/psych485/001/content/13_lesson/03_page.html, on July 1, 2013.