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What Does The Gender Gap?

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There are numerous factors that can cause leadership styles to vary and one aspect in which leadership styles can vary is by gender. There have been numerous debates and conversations about the differences in the way men lead and the way women lead; this could explain why the gender gap in corporate settings is so large. Although there is some debate that the gender gap does not actually exist, copious amounts of research has been done to disprove this. Looking at statistics from recent findings, it’s surprising to see just how little women are represented in senior level employment and the gap widens even more when discussing women of color who only account for just 12% of the managerial and professional labor force. In 2011 women only …show more content…

The key to successfully becoming a leader involves one working their way up to the top of the pyramid, but this can only be done by one advancing their way to different positions in a company. This task can be seen as inherently difficult for women because of two main reasons: one reason is way women leaders are viewed by others, and the other deals with how companies were structured and organized before women were able to enter the workforce. Since men made up most of the workforce many companies were designed to reflect men’s daily lives, situations and their leadership styles. When women were able to come into workforce they had to try to adapt to the situations and leadership styles already in place, making reaching different positions in the workplace almost impossible; women did not live the same daily lives as men and they certainly did not face the same situations as men. The traditional career path to obtaining a higher executive position typically includes rotations in sales or operations, both positions which men are more likely to have had than women. It has been extremely difficult for women to overcome leadership barriers because women have not had the ability to construct the correct leadership identities (Eby, Ibarra, & Kolb). Not only have the stereotypes about women been related to the lack of leadership roles, a study found that physical attractiveness has also been tied

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