2. 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Facts: Women at a Disadvantage 3
Identities & Differences: Women Stereotypes 3
Obstacles Faced 5
Promoting Change 7
Further Readings & References 10
3. 3
WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP
The Facts: Women at a Disadvantage
A number of people are familiar with the gender gaps in salary and
management in the workforce, but many likely will not consider the cause of
these differences or the resulting consequences for women and businesses.
Top male managers earn roughly 30 percent more than the highest earning
women on the corporate ladder5. American women in general earn about 80
percent of what men do in similar positions9. Fortune-500 companies employ
women in only 2.2 percent of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) positions, and 15
percent of these organizations’ board seats and corporate officer positions7.
Given all of these statistics, one could jump to the conclusion that women are
not a very feasible asset for most companies. Conversely, firms with a larger
percentage of women in top management actually perform better than those
with a lower percentage of women9.
Identities & Differences: Women Stereotypes
In society, people use stereotypes to make sense of their world. These are
socially constructed assumptions based on one’s observed cultural patterns5.
Though stereotypes normally hold a negative connotation, they can also be
useful in some circumstances such as when an individual only has their
assumptions when trying to understand new ideas. Many times, individuals
will develop identities from cultural stereotypes in order to understand their
place in life and organize experiences. These identities and stereotypes can
and likely will differ across cultures, genders, and even generations of
individuals.
4. 4
Stereotypes
Both men and women offer beneficial skills they may bring to the table in
their given field, but there is an increasing awareness of women’s differences
as a resource for companies3. Though women are similar to men in regard to
behavior and effectiveness, women leaders are more participative and less
autocratic. In another study on behavioral differences and stereotypes
between men and women, it was found that women are perceived as more
effective at caretaking behaviors in leadership than men, but men are more
effective at action oriented behaviors such as “taking charge” than women,
and more prominently were perceived as outperforming women in the
category of problem solving4. Prime et. all found that global perceptions exist
which include the belief that women hold less leadership traits than the
average man, and that women lack the same task-oriented skills as leaders
in general4. Such perceptions can provide useful information in trying to
understand patterns in the world and the actions of others, but these
perceptions are stereotypes made of patterns of assumptions and
expectancies4. Largely due to these stereotypes and resulting discrimination,
research suggests that women are less competitive and hierarchical than
men9.
Stereotypes can have a damaging effect on women’s ability to progress and
strive in the workforce. Business women argue that negative and misleading
stereotypes of their leadership abilities
result in evaluative biases and
discrimination4. Some dismiss women’s
absence in leadership roles as a result of
differences in leadership skills and drive in
women compared to their male counterparts.
These opinions reflecting gender inequality
may be frequently made, but lack empirical
“Studies have found
evidence supporting
the idea that men and
women leaders share
more similarities than
differences”
5. 5
evidence. Rather, studies have found
evidence supporting the idea that men and
women leaders share more similarities than
differences4. Such similarities include
cognitive functioning as well as leadership
styles and personality traits. These findings
led researchers to conclude that an individual’s gender is not an accurate
indicator of how one will lead4. One may conclude that feminine stereotypes
do in fact hurt women’s chance at leadership and portray them as ill-suited
for leadership positions. The stereotypes of women discussed so far are
known as descriptive stereotypes, which reflect qualities women possess.
Similarly, there are prescriptive stereotypes, which describe what roles
women should or should not play4. The prescriptive stereotypes placed on
women are incongruent with leadership roles, leading to bias and
discrimination. Researchers believe that these biases and discrimination
toward women are contributing factors to the present gender gap in
leadership.
Obstacles Faced
In order for women to achieve a similar level of achievement as men, they
must overcome many obstacles in the workforce. Stereotypes alone pose an
enormous disservice to women’s chance at leadership. Additionally women
must find ways to overcome second generation biases, double binds, the glass
ceiling, a lacking support system, and the expectancy effect.
Second Generation Bias
Second generation biases are powerful but seemingly invisible barriers to
women’s advancement. They consist of indirect forms of discrimination that
create a context in which it becomes difficult for women to thrive or reach full
“An individual’s
genderis not an
accurate indicatorof
how one will lead.”
6. 6
potential1. This atmosphere is usually the result of cultural beliefs, workplace
structures, practices, and patterns that favor men7. An example of this sort of
atmosphere is present in companies where men are predominant in upper
level management, and practices that perceive leadership behaviors to be
primarily masculine in nature. People tend to gravitate toward individuals
who share similar characteristics such as gender and behavior. This
assumption also elicits second generation bias and may impede on women’s
ability to progress due to demolishing identity work that is necessary to
transition into positions of leadership7. Inevitably, a woman who wishes to
succeed in leadership “must establish credibility in a culture that is deeply
conflicted about her authority”.
Expectancy Effect
The roles of second generation bias and the expectancy effect play hand in
hand in terms of the difficulties women face in leadership progression. The
expectancy effect may be related to women's leadership roles in the biases
that people possess which create expectations about the behaviors and
results of an individual. In this case, there are stereotypes of feminine
behaviors and how women act such as being caring and supportive rather
than depicting a "take charge" attitude. These stereotypes create
expectancies about women in the workplace, such as a woman leader will be
too soft toward employees, or that women will not "get the job done" or be
effective disciplinarians. Once these expectations are created, individuals in
the work force attribute behaviors to their expectations5. When behavior
conflicts with one's expectations, there is incongruence. Individuals will seek
out alternate explanations when experiencing incongruence. In this sense
they will also reinforce expected behavior and punish incongruent behavior in
women to maintain the pattern of expectancy5. This phenomenon is
illustrated in the point Ely et. all raises, “As women rise in the hierarchy,
7. 7
they become increasingly scarce; as women become scarce, they become more
visible and subject to greater scrutiny”7.
Fundamental Attribution Error
Performance evaluations differ between men and women in the workforce5. In
this study, performance of the company influences evaluations differently for
men and women. In accordance with gender stereotypes, women are seen as
lacking agency, and therefore are not perceived as a source of action or
change in an organization5. Considering this concept, women with high
performance and valuable work will not be acknowledged in a similar fashion
to men because the successes are more likely to be attributed to external
factors. This makes it increasingly more difficult for women to progress into a
leadership role within a company because their hard work may be falsely
attributed elsewhere.
Promoting Change
Given the facts stated concerning women in leadership there are many
options both women and organizations can practice to counteract the effects
of bias and discrimination toward women in the workforce. Simply being
aware of gender biases and educating employees on these issues can have a
profound effect on the progression of women into leadership positions1. There
are also many other options that enable women to develop leadership
identities and succeed in the workforce.
Recommendations for Women
One tip for women to develop their identity and be seen as a leader is to seek
“profit-and-loss” experience3. Studies have shown that women are
disproportionately represented in positions that are characterized by less
visibility and responsibility which lack the opportunity of top management.
8. 8
Women in these studies voiced being perseverant in obtaining profit-and-loss
responsibility or taking responsibility of troubled divisions during their
career transitions3. This serves to be an effective step to gain visibility and a
track record that is required to reach management opportunities. Women
must be made aware of these positions and opportunities that assist in the
process of transitioning to upper management.
Another tool for women to access visibility in an
organization is to “consistently expect and exceed
high performance”3. This notion is based greatly on
the idea that performance is the price of admission,
and one must work their way to the top. Studies
found that in order to succeed and gain access to opportunities, women must
possess an innate drive and seek out responsibility with persistence3. This
may serve as an extremely helpful tool in gaining recognition and
opportunity.
Self-awareness and an authentic leadership style is a necessary component to
leadership identity development and progression as well. One must retain a
good understanding of their priorities and values during the transitioning
process. Through personal development it is seemingly easy for one to lose
track of their morals and values while striving to get ahead. One will be most
effective if they remain true to their priorities and focus their energy on
aligning their inner values with their behaviors to remain in control and
promoting agency within themselves3. Women who successfully initiated this
practice spoke of intentionally setting time aside to explore their own needs
and capabilities3.
Lastly, an important tool women and organizations alike may promote is
building cooperative relationships and influential networks. Key elements of
becoming an enterprise leader are achieving influence, connecting with
“Performance
is the price of
admission”
9. 9
others, and being able to effectively deliver a message3. In order to reach
these aspects of leadership, one must understand their personal
communication style. In this circumstance, relationships and effective
networks are extremely beneficial in helping members involved in the group
to develop and better understand their own communication style and learn
how it is effective or where improvement is needed. This is also beneficial in a
similar aspect to the “old boy” networks to enable women to reach their full
potential and gain access to opportunities they otherwise might not achieve
on their own. Organizations can promote these networks through women’s
leadership programs and other venues to enable women to acquire
connections and opportunity in and out of the organization. These actions will
advocate for women to overcome biases and discrimination associated with
gender, gain a better chance at developing their leadership identity, and
encourage them to persevere into new opportunities and positions.
i
10. 10
Further Readings & References
1Afolabi, O. (2013). Stereotypes against women: how do subordinates perceive
the job performance and level of achievement of their leaders?.Gender &
Behavior, 11, 5698-5706.
2Ibarra, H., Ely, R., Kolb, D. (2013). Women rising: the unseen barriers. Harvard
Business Review.
3Weidenfeller, N. (2012). Breaking through the glass wall: the experience of
being a woman enterprise leader. Human Resource Development International,
15 (3), 365-374.
4Prime, J., Carter, N., Welbourne, T. (2009). Women “take care,” men “take
charge”: managers’ stereotypic perceptions of women and men leaders. The
Psychologist-Manager Journal, (12) 25-49.
5Kulich, C., Ryan, M., Haslam, A. (2007). Where is the romance for women
leaders? The effects of gender on leadership attributions and performance-based
pay. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 56 (4), 582-601.
6Ramarajan, L., Reid, E. (2013). Shattering the myth of separate worlds:
Negotiating nonwork identities at work. Academy of Management Review, 38
(4), 621-644.
7Ely, R., Ibarra, H., Kolb, D. (2011). Taking gender into account: Theory and
design for women’s leadership development programs. Academy of Management
Learning & Education, 10 (3), 474-493.
8McDermott, L. (2014). Women, seize your leadership role. T+D, 29-33.
9Kaminski, M., Yakura, E. (2008). Women’s union leadership: Closing the gender
gap. The Journal of Labor and Society, 11, 459-475.
10Schuh, S., Bark, A., Quaquebeke, N., Hossiep, R., Frieg, P., Dick, R. (2014).
Gender differences in leadership role occupancy: The mediating role of power
motivation. J Bus Ethics, 120, 363-379.
11O’Bannon, D., Garavalia, L., Renz, D., McCarther, M. (2010). Successful
leadership development for women STEM faculty. Leadership and Management
in Engineering, 167-172.
