In this new century, women and power are progressing together. In the past, women did not have many rights and with all the social advancement we now are able to gain influence power in every field. As leaders, women still faces some stigmas related to their real capacity to be a successful leader. Many factors are pointed to be barriers for women in leadership, as they seen as weak figures who are tied up to household duties (Northouse, 2016, p. 399). Although we form nearly half of the work force in the U.S., a depressing statistic shows that leadership positions for females are still very low when compared to men (Northouse, 2016). This means that our progression towards leadership has been a slow process that is hold back for three main reasons: first, women managerial experience is not considered long enough, which means they may lack on managerial skills and this may explain why women do not easily get to the top leadership positions. The third is that women may not be suitable for executive demands because they might lack self-confidence (PSU, WC, Psych 485, lesson 13, 2016). These barriers are definitely biased, as women can and should be trusted for leadership positions. These biased concepts against women is known as glass ceiling, because it is considered an invisible barrier that just happen to exist (Northouse, 2016, p. 399).
Interestingly, Northouse (2016) estates that women experiences a sort of labyrinth where human capital, gender differences and prejudice determine their leadership abilities and limits. Which is very accurate, since in many cases women are forced to self-select themselves out of higher professional opportunities to have the chance to accomplish personal and family goals (Northouse, 2016, p. 401). This scenario may change depending of the cultural background that females have. In some countries, cultural rules are based in prejudice as they believe that women should be mainly responsible for family and other duties, such as Middle Eastern countries where business do not take many risks and avoid uncertainty (Northouse, 2016, p. 432); in those countries man are expected to lead the social environment. In other cultures, such as Eastern Europe, women are well respected and can achieve leadership positions more often because at the work place men and women are treated equally (Northouse, 2016, p. 437). A project called GLOBE tried to assess how culture is related to leadership effectiveness (Muchinsky, 2012, p. 412); using nine cultural dimensions they found that in countries where women are prone and able to have higher job positions they are charismatic, value based, humane oriented and team oriented leaders (Northouse, 2016, p. 441). Thus, successful women leaders are expected to not act like a man, neither too much like a woman; they need to be ambitious, be though, take risks and responsibility without inconsistencies (PSU, WC, Psych 485, lesson 13, 2016).
At work, the CEO and my boss is a woman. She has faced many challenges throughout her career and still have many other challenges in her way. Despite all the experience she had in her field, she leads projects that require specific set of skills and those always causes everyone in the office to doubt if she will be able to accomplish the goals or not. I always notice biased comments and prejudice used by the males of the office (Northouse, 2016). Because her position requires a lot of extra time in the office, she is always the last one to leave and we all know it impacts severely her family relationships; she has two kids at 9 and 11 years old and seems that her family duties have to come in second place. Once I have asked her how she combines her professional and personal lives and she told me her husband does not have a job so she can keep hers. Apparently she passes on her husband all the family and household responsibilities. Although, she still tries to be a superwoman and be present in her kids’ lives, she assumed that is very difficult when the job is very demanding like hers (Northouse, 2016, p. 400). Maybe Northouse (2016) is right and because women are entitled of so many other responsibilities, it can create a conflict that generates gender differences between man and women related to leadership.
I believe that women can develop effective leaderships, and at some point their leadership style is more transformational than men leadership because men effectiveness can be predictive, while women are perceived as caring, relationship-oriented and kind (Muchinsky, 2012, p. 418 & Northouse, 2016, p. 402). My boss definitely has a different leadership style, mostly team orientation is what is used under her leadership; she also uses a lot of contingent rewards when employees achieve goals and finish projects without much follow ups. Everyone in the office feels empathy towards her mythologies, and it develops more trust between her and her followers (Northouse, 2016). I perceive her as a motivated leader that cares for her followers and always take in consideration the situation. However, many times other employees discredit her efforts because she is a female and it may have a slight impact on how she perceives her followers collaborative behaviors, thus creating the famous in-group and out-groups system at the work place (Northouse, 2016, p. 405).
Overall, I believe that be a female leader is not an easy task. Prejudice, stereotyping and sexism can always surface and it will definitely impact women leadership. Culturally, the effects of women leaderships can change depending on local beliefs and local cultural perspectives (PSU, WC, Psych 485, lesson 13, 2016). Many countries are successful under women leadership, and others still does not accept this new trend openly. The way things are going in this century, I can see things changing, and in the near future women may be able to successfully jiggle their household and family responsibilities with professional demanding in leadership careers. My boss is an example and inspiration in this matter, as she work hard to break the glass ceiling existent over women’s’ leadership head. I hope one day, gender biases ends and this scenario changes.
References:
Muchinsky, Paul M. (2012). Psychology applied to work. North Carolina. Hypergraphic Press. 10th edition.
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Penn State World Campus (2016). PSYCH 485: Leadership in Work Settings. Lesson 13: Leadership and Diversity. Retrieved from: https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1803831/modules/items/21139952