Gender Stereotypes In Leadership Essay

These perceptions however may not be true. According to organizational behavior scholars, ‘women are evaluated negatively when they adopt a stereotypically male leadership style and occupy traditionally male-dominated positions’. The employees in the case assume that Sally being a woman should be ‘nurturing and … care about their workers’ suggesting preconceived notions of how women should behave. This notion of stereotyping can result in misinterpretation of information because not all people are the same, and many in the same social category may demonstrate inconsistencies with the stereotype.

I agree with Manning’s statement that women are hypercritical of themselves and men are often more confident of their abilities than they ought to be. Traditionally, women are more cautious and aware of their actions as they heavily impact their ability to advance within an organization. According to Sebastian Bailey (2014), women are several underrepresented in senior leadership, holding less than 5% of Chief Executive Officer positions in Fortune 500 companies in 2012. Bailey (2014) also suggests that society typically associates successful and efficient leadership with the characteristics of masculine traits and a female leader would violate those gender norms.

Eagly & Chin (2010) note that the barriers described intersect with leader behavior and identity in that leaders who are members of these groups are often expected to not only perform leader functions but also to fulfill the stereotypes associated with their group membership. They note that women who do demonstrate more "masculine" traits are often given poorer performance reviews even if their leadership performance is the same. Eagly & Johansen (2003) point out that women do have high levels of leadership performance, and so-called feminine traits are better correlated with positive outcomes than masculine traits, yet there remains discrimination in hiring females into leadership positions. The issue is even more complicated for people who incorporate multiple points of diversity, for example African-American females (Sanchez-Hucles & Davis, 2010).

For decades, differences in gender have been at the forefront of debate, especially in relation to effective leadership in managing a company. Women were recognized as too emotional, weak or subordinate to be successful as managers. However, as time has passed, the perceptions of society have changed, and although women made the leap into many management positions, the stereotype that they are inferior to men still exists, making them feel the need to prove themselves. In management positions, women are challenged in different ways, present themselves in a different manner and communicate differently than men; however, despite the variations, females have successfully integrated themselves into the

Since the beginning of history, men have always been considered the innate leaders of any society. They are considered to be aggressive, dominant, smart for business, and born to be leaders. Conversely, to women who since early history had to break stereotypes to show that they had the potential to work and prove themselves to hold powerful positions at work. Due to the pursuit of women 's rights and equality to men, known as feminism, history has changed. Different from decades ago, women are now entitled to choose between working and staying at home, they have more options than just being a wife and a mom. While, women now have rights, they still carry different stereotypes that sometimes prevent them to be respected and considered for a better position at the workplace. Stereotypes of women such as sensitive, unstable, deep emotional are some of the reasons why women are not considered potential leaders. That is why, as Ariel Levy discusses in her essay “Female Chauvanist Pigs” “Women who 've wanted to be perceived as powerful have long found it more effective to identify with men than to try and elevate the entire female sex to their level” (268). Instead of fulfilling the designated stereotypes, women are showing that they can have a masculine side too. In order to be considered as powerful leaders in a male dominated society, most women try to identify with men by acquiring masculine characteristics.Although, the successful leadership style is masculine, women

“Studies show that women in the United States often face doubts about their leadership and are judged more harshly than men. Alice Eagly, who teaches management and psychology at Northwestern University, points to studies showing that female college presidents and police chiefs face additional criticism when they fail. (1)”

Women were regarded as a minority group in early society, and although discrimination toward women is illegal now, there still are some difficulties that women face in the workplace. This article, written by Carol P. Harvey and Deborah L. Larsen, is titled “ Women In Leadership Positions: Why Aren’t They There Yet?”. The thesis of this article is that women in leadership positions struggle under the stereotype of gender expectations. To illustrate, the authors develop some differences between males and females, and discuss stereotypes of gender; at the end they explore possible reasons why women have difficulties in the workforce.

Based on the Holy Bible, life began with ‘’Adam’’ and ‘’Eve’’ then carried headlong, as ‘’Eve’’ gave birth followed by other women giving birth. Women are the most important amongst any in the world, without women, life would simply not exist. However, people in some countries seem to not realize that and do not appreciate their existence. India’s ratio is approximately nine hundred and twenty nine females for every one thousand males. Australia’s ratio of male and female is 1.055, which means there are nine hundred and forty eight females for every one thousand males (CIA World Factbook, 2011). India and Australia are countries with remarkable differences, not in just population number and sanitation but also in the role of women and how they are treated.

Aspects of gender roles that are especially relevant to understanding leadership, pertain to agentic and communal attributes (Eagly, Karau, & Makhijani, 1995). Agentic characteristics are attributed more strongly to men than women. For example, males tend to be more aggressive, ambitious, dominant, forceful, independent, daring, self-confident, and competitive. In employment settings, agentic behaviors might include speaking assertively, competing for attention, influencing others, initiating activity directed to assigned tasks, and making problem-focused suggestions. Communal characteristics are attributed more to women than men, and describes women to be more concerned with the welfare of other people. For example, women tend to be more affectionate, helpful, kind, sympathetic, interpersonally sensitive, nurturing, and gentle. In employment settings, communal behaviors might include speaking tentatively, not drawing attention to oneself, accepting others’ direction, supporting and soothing others, and contributing to the solution of relational and interpersonal problems (Klenke, 2003). To address the question of whether men and women have different leadership styles, Eagly, Karau, & Makhijani (1995) conducted a review of leadership studies. These studies of leadership styles showed women to be both interpersonally oriented and self-governing, and men to be both task-oriented and dictatorial.

According to the Business Dictionary (2015), leadership is defined as the management staff that typically provides inspiration, objectives, operational oversight, and other administrative services to a business. Effective leadership can help prioritize objectives for subordinates and can provide guidance toward achieving the overall corporate vision. Both definitions are gender-free; however, in both cases, the leader is typically male. As women increasingly enter leadership roles that traditionally are occupied by men, the possibility that the leadership styles of women and men differ continues to attract attention. Whether these gender differences exist in the way in which they communicate, influence, or lead, men and women have always been viewed as different and unique sets of people.

The MRG research report on Leadership and Gender (Kabacoff, Peters 1998: 4-5) states that women tended to be more task focused and scored higher on leadership scales measuring an orientation toward setting high standards of performance and the attainment of results. Women were far more apt to organize work in a structured way, to follow-up to ensure objectives were met and to push for results.

The debate about the difference in leadership style of women and men continues to attract attention since women make strides into leadership position dominated mainly by men. Men have long been holding these leadership roles and have defined styles accepted by people. Therefore, it is not surprising that women are usual the focus in terms of the discussion on gender difference in leadership styles. There seems to be great disagreement about the behaviour of women and men actually performing such roles (Eagly, 2001). This disagreement on this focus can be divided into two groups. One is the no-difference camp, who commonly agreed that there are few differenced in the leadership style of female and male leaders. The other is the gender-stereotypic camp who believed the existence of crucial differences in the leadership style between both (Alvesson, 2009).

In the fight between a male versus female manager, you may expect that a male supervisor may be superior at running the show, since guys are frequently seen as natural born leaders. Individuals who act in ways that are incongruent with their sex role tend to be evaluated negatively (Eagly and Karau, 2002). This incongruity can create problems for female managers because characteristics necessary to be a successful leader are more frequently associated with the male gender role (Elsesser and Lever, 2014). In the United States today, females from one perspective are commended as having the right blend of abilities for initiative, yielding unrivaled leadership styles and extraordinary efficiency. Then again, there seems, by all accounts, to be across the board acknowledgment that ladies regularly come in second to men in rivalries to achieve leadership positions. Females are still depicted as struggling for access to leadership positions and in addition prejudice and resistance when they occupy these roles.

In our society, men are usually always in the role of being a leader. We see, men as leaders in Politics, in the military, as CEO?s of major companies and in churches just to name a few of areas men are leaders. Why do women in the same fields not get the recognition as men who are in the same areas of work? This argument have been in our society and across the world about women in leadership roles for a very long time. But, over the years history has changed, and we have begun to see females in major leader roles. However, still there is a lot of work for women in the role of leadership. Competing with men in leadership and also being equal i.e., pay has been a work in progress for years. Are women good leaders? Will we ever see a female President in the near future? In this paper, I will address and answer my own questions and some of the history of women in leadership roles. We strive to see what the differences between a male and female doing the same role in leadership, and why women are always looked at as weak and not suitable for leaders.

A preeminent manager should posess admirable management abilities. Gardner (1995, cited in Werhane and Painter-Morland, 2011:1) states leaders as, ‘individuals who significantly influence the thoughts, behaviors, and/or feelings of others’. Even though male managers still account for the larger proportion, there is growing number of women taking the place of men in leadership nowadays. There was only 1 female CEO in the Fortune 500 companies in 1996, the number were raised to 12 in 2010 and raised further to 26 in the latest 2014 list (Fortune, 2015). Whether men are more suitable than women to play the role as leaders in the company and whether men’s manager abilities are greater than women’s abilities? Gender diversity causes differences in managerial methods between men and women, and I suggest that men and women are both trustworthy managers, the difference purely depends on their enterprise developing program. In this essay, I will dissect the difference between men and women in their leadership typifing and their management capacity.