Women in Leadership

Sandberg’s book analyzes the many biases between women and men in positions of leadership in the workplace as well as her view on “feminism” in the corporate world. She claims “women hold themselves back unintentionally in their careers” by not taking part in career advancement opportunities that may arise in addition to hesitance and worry of repercussions which might occur for making requests or demands of their superiors. Sandberg believes that the reason for this is because women are living up to the stereotypes as “caregivers, sensitive and communal” while men are portrayed to be providers, driven and decisive”. The portrayals

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.

A recent study by the Australian Government Department of Social Services (2008) looking at the challenges facing women in leadership roles highlighted the following areas as being significant;

One identified contributor to women's slower than expected assent into leadership is the persistence of assumptions and stereotypes that women are intrinsically "communal" or "dependent" and "passive", and therefore, lack the capacity to succeed as leaders. (National Academy of Sciences National Academy of Engineering Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, 2006 as cited by Isaac, Kaatz & Carnes, 2012).

During the early history in America women were deprived of some of the many rights given to the male citizens. It has almost been a century since women were awarded the right to vote in the United States. It’s been half a century after the Equal Pay Act was established. “The Equal Pay act led to a reduction in the wage gap, but wage differences based on sex persist” (Korgen & Giraffe, 2015). Sadly, there is still a lot of prejudice towards women in the workplace. Bigotry towards women in the workplace has been dominant through the years. Many perceive women as being weak and not able to effectively provide their leadership duties in their workplaces due to their emotions (weaker sex). Positions in leadership are often given

(A) Despite the fact that there is an increasing number of women in the workforce, there are few in leadership positions. This is because of ambivalent sexism. There are two different types of ambivalent sexism: hostile and benevolent. A Hostile sexist is someone who as combative and antagonistic view towards a woman. He believes that women are trying to gain control over men using feministic views and their sexuality (which they are threatened by). Examples of hostile sexism: “Women do not appreciate everything that men do for them” or “Women use sex to gain power over men”. Hostile sexism punishes women who do not conform to social roles with aggression and hostility, and it rewards women who conform. Benevolent sexism is when a

Nadler and Stockdale mention how women face the most challenges in receiving higher positions in the workforce (282+). Nadler and Stockdale claim that women are viewed as competent, but individuals who are both competent and likeable are most likely to be promoted (287+). Nadler and Stockdale declare, “Women endeavoring to succeed in a masculine work role, such as upper management, currently face obstacles based on their perceived gender role” (283+). Women who succeed in earning a managerial position will have to eventually pay the cost of receiving that position (Nadler and Stockdale 282+). Many women will postpone relationships or having children to succeed in the workforce (Nadler and Stockdale 282+). Nadler and Stockdale add that women

Marie A. Chisholm-Burns states that “perhaps no sector has been more publicly scrutinized for its gender disparities than the corporate world” (312). While women tend to do most of the shopping for the household, they still lack the ability to voice their opinions about what can be done to improve consumption or shopping. USA Today recently wrote an article that was boldly named “Sexism in the Workplace is Worse Than You Thought” which talks about the gender bias women face in the workplace as they progress in their career (Chisholm-Burns 312). Since white males are considered superior in today’s society, diversity is hard to find in high-paying jobs. Because women face discrimination, many businesses struggle to reach their full potential. The glass ceiling is also very condescending and causes women to act negatively towards themselves. The discrimination in pay between men and women has caused many women to form anxiety or stress disorders, such as depression. It also causes women to not strive to be the best they can and because they struggle with this, the possibilities of having great women in leadership decreases even lower than it was originally. These low levels of female leaders also lack encouragement from good role models who would help them learn how to be a leader. If equality becomes a strong focus for corporations, then they should see a positive overall

In Fitting in: Community College Female Executive Leaders Share Their Experiences- A Study in West Texas, Gill and Jones explored the phenomena of leadership in higher education from the perspectives of women who hold leadership positions at community colleges in west Texas. Traditionally, higher education was a male-dominated field which made it difficult for women to attain administrative positions. However, women held 50% of the leadership positions at community colleges in the United States during 2013, which shows the openness of community colleges to accept women in leadership positions. Additionally, the number of administrators projected to retire from community colleges in the near future illustrates that opportunities for women to

Nursing is evolving throughout the years, with new studies and research, we as nurses must take it upon ourselves to not limit our fixated view towards to what we have been accustomed to. As future leaders, nurses “practice compassion and uniqueness of every individual” (2012). The world around us has changed particularly the rise in issues concerning gender. We have learned growing up that the term sex was either male or female with no regard to gender identity. Gender is what one person identifies as being either masculine or feminine (2012). The realization to become knowledgeable and sensitive is shown by the growing numbers from the National Center for Transgender Equality, which reported an estimated 115,000 to 450,000 transgender adults

For my research question I will be asking: “How is America making progress on gender equity?” Fundamentally, I believe that women are still misrepresented, and are still facing many challenges in the workplace, especially in the business world. The gender stereotypes play a considerable role in the way the society sees women as leaders. However, it will be judicious to consider the small but noticeable changes that have been made over the past years concerning gender equality in the American workplace.

In a Forbes article written by Glen Llopis, The Most Undervalued Leadership Traits of Women, Llopis, highlights his theories and opinions on each undervalued trait. Llopis provides specific details that make women effective leaders. The author predicates his assessment on women and leadership from his personal and professional experiences. Within the article, Llopis identifies six leadership traits that women naturally possess, which are undervalued:

Several theories have been utilized to guide research exploring the glass ceiling metaphor. The social role theory explains the labor division between men and women and the difference in their leadership style (Sabharal, 2015). Men are regarded as more agentic- aggressive, dominant, and independent. Women behaviors are more communal- empathetic, nurturing and kind. This theory posits that individuals might question the capacity of women in leadership roles, because requirements of leadership contradict the social role of women (Sabharwal, 2015). Because men majorly occupy leadership roles, it is largely assumed that leadership demands male-like personas. Therefore, women are judged less favorably when seeking management positions. Moreover, managers are less likely to promote women because of their social responsibility as mothers, which ascribe the primary responsibility of family (Sabharwal, 2015). Role incongruity and the perpetuating masculine stereotype contribute to the challenges women face in leadership positions (Sabharwal, 2015).

More and more women are rising to the leadership challenge, even in some of the most male-dominated industries. The increase in the number of women attending college, the increasing number of women in the workplace or starting their own business has demonstrated to men who own businesses that women can be both managers and mothers, thus showing their male counterpart that women can in fact "do it all".

Gender and leadership? Leadership and gender? A journey through the landscape of theories start off by giving a statistical summary of percentages of women in higher echelon position in the workforce. With this information in the intro, the article quickly highlights the limited representation of women in exclusive positions in Fortune 500 companies. Next, the paper examines multiple theories why this problem exists in the workforce. The four theories examined are biology and sex; gender role; causal factors; and attitudinal drivers (Appelbaum et al, 2003, p. 44).