John Doe
Ms. MariantheFrankos
WP XXXX
July 20, 2020
Word Count: 2, 300
Barriers in Women’s Leadership
Have you ever considered the inconsistency of gender diversity in leadership roles in business? Very few female leaders exist in comparison to male leaders around the world. This condition however may not be few due to their lack of skills, nor their lack of aspirations, but to other factors. Therefore the ongoing debate is whether women face barriers in their attempt to acquire leadership positions or not. This debate is essential, because if there are barriers to women gaining leadership roles then, women’s rights and professional advancement are being abused by male employers. Some people support that male-dominated organizations establish and support barriers that exclude women from managerial positions in the workforce while other people support that women are simply incapable of taking on leadership positions in business. Although organizations claim that both females and males have equal opportunities of attaining leadership positions, I argue that women face barriers because of childbearing, stereotypes regarding masculine traits and male-networks that not only prevent them from climbing the corporate ladder but also disadvantages the organizations.
To begin with, some people claim that a significant number of female leaders exist in our modern society. These people believe that, leadership positions are occupied by both males and females equally and there are no barriers that prevent women from climbing the corporate ladder. They claim that women themselves choose not to take on leadership roles. In, “Women’s Leadership Within Their Communities.” Published in Gender and Women’ s Leadership in 2008,O’Brien Erin and Jennifer Shea, support that, both males and females have equal opportunities in pursuing leadership positions and women in such positions are numerous. According to them, “In all, the recognition of women’s continual leadership […] drastically changes the view that successful female leaders are few.” In making this comment, the authors argue that there has been noticeable progress throughout the years and nowadays women occupy a lot of leadership positions.I disagree with the authors’ view, that there is gender diversity in leadership and that women occupy a lot of high-level positions within the workforce because, as recent research has shown, even though females occupy half of the workforce positions, the leadership positions retained by them are very few. In her YouTube video, why we Have Too Few Women Leaders. Uploaded on YouTube, in December 2010, Sheryl Sandberg provides substantial evidence which prove that females do not possess even half of the leadership positions that males do. According to her, “Women are not making it to the top of any profession anywhere in the world, the numbers tell the story quite clearly 190 heads of state – 9 are women. Of all the people in parliament in the world, 13 percent are women. In the corporate sector, women at the top C-level jobs, board seats top out at 15, 16 percent. The numbers have not moved since 2002.” (0:44). Basically, Sanburg is identifying that although females may retain half of the workforce positions, yet almost none of them is making to the top. In addition to that, Sandberg provides statistics to support her claim proving therefore that there is indeed a tremendous inconsistency in leadership representation. Consequently, Sandberg’s evidence is extremely helpful because these statistics shed light on the contradictory claims regarding the existence of barriers in women’s leadership, as well as support my claim, that there is indeed discrimination from male employers to women’s professional advancement.
One significant barrier that occurs in most women’s life and prevents them from achieving their career goals is childbearing. Even though, both males and females may want children, women are the ones who have the role of giving birth to a child. As a result male employers are able to gain the pleasure of having children without losing their careers. In contrast women face the choice of family over career, because if they do decide to have children they won’t get trained at all and most important will not pursue leadership positions. Dawson Tricia, in the chapter, “Pay Inequality in Manufacturing Industry: The Case of the Printing Industry” published in 2011 in Discrimination at Work argues that male employers tend to perceive women as unskilled, as well as ineligible for training for reasons such as childcare. According to her, “[t]here is still a strong residual belief that it is not worth training women who may take time out for childbearing and care and certainly flexible working tends to be rare where craftwork dominates” (75). Basically, Tricia is supporting that childbearing not only limits a female’s opportunities and professional advancement when it occurs, but may be thereason to prevent women’s training and mentoring in the first place, because they will probably deal with childbearing in the future. Along the same lines, in, “Chipping away at the glass ceiling.” Published in American Economic Review in May 2011, David Matsa and Amalia Miller, assert that although women occupy half of the overall workforce positions, only 6 percent are at the top. Factors that prevent them from acquiring such positions are usually childbearing and their tendency to avoid stress and competitive situations with other colleagues. In accordance with them, “Career interruptions due to childbearing […] also limit women’s ultimate professional advancement” (635). In other words, the authors maintain that, if females decide to have children, male employers eliminate any career goals they would pursue, because they claim that they’re not worth training, due to the time they will take to deal with childcare. I completely agree with the authors, because giving birth to a child is an inevitable process that women ought to fulfil and I totally disagree with people who suggest that this is their choice. I believe, that having children is one of the most important things in life as well as a great joy which cannot be compared with a woman’s career and male employers should support women in this process, because women are not the only ones who want to have children, men also do.
Furthermore, one more barrier to women’s professional advancement that is worth mentioning, is the stereotypical false assumption that leadership positions should be occupied by males. Many employers believe that women have certain characteristic traits which prevent them from being effective leaders. Judy Mckimm, and others in the chapter “Women and Leadership in Medicine and Medical Education: International Perspectives” published in 2015 in Gender, Careers and Inequalities in Medicine and Medical Education maintain that, there are different styles of leadership for both genders and the factors that determine those styles are “masculine” as well as “feminine” traits of a person. Moreover, these traits define the followers of a leader within the workplace and “masculine” traits tend to be more attractive and likeable. As claimed by McKimm, and others, “[l]eadership has historically been seen as a role for men rather than for women, with successful leaders identified by masculine traits such as risk taking, decisiveness, assertiveness and ambition.”(42). In other words, the authors claim that, people’s stereotypical belief that leadership positions should be occupied by males is because “masculine” traits such as resourcefulness, decision-making and boldness promote successful leadership.Along the same lines, in, “Factors Relating to Managerial Stereotypes: The Role of Gender of the Employee and the Manager and Management Gender Ratio” published in the Journal of Business & Psychology, in 2002, Janka, Stoker and others contend that a leader is supposed to be powerful and strong, thus, women are considered to be unsuitable to leadership positions due to the stereotypical assumption of women’s fragile emotional state. According to them, “[m]asculine leadership characteristics are generally thought to be more attractive… than feminine characteristics….” (36). The essence of the authors’ argument is that, people perceive leadership as a male’s role in a pre-determined manner, because “masculine” traits are more appealing in contrast to feminine. The authors’ argument is valid because, gender-stereotypical portrayals of male leaders have constructed false assumptions that male leaders are more likeable, more powerful and more ambitious, whereas women are more weak, more fragile, and more emotional.
Additionally, another important barrier in women’s leadership is the existence of male-only networks within organizations. By extension, male-only networks consist of men who have been educated at the same institution or have known each other for years and support one another within the organization. In, “Barriers to Women’s Leadership.” published in Leadership, in 2004, Doris Jakobsh, identifies that the structure of organizations either corporate or governmental has been woven to support males only, resulting into a more challenging situation for women, who desire to climb the corporate ladder. As commented by Jakobsh, “Another barrier, and perhaps the most significant to women, is that the ‘old-boy network’ shuts women out of top management. This old-boy network consists of males who have been educated at the same institutions or who have climbed the corporate ladder together.” In other words, Doris Jakobsh asserts that, organizations consist of male-networks that exclude women from the workforce and more specifically in their attempt to obtain managerial positions. Consequently, women are required to work much harder and prove themselves, in order to climb the ladder and attain leadership positions which proves to be very difficult given this circumstance. Likewise, Linda Wirth, in the chapter “Barriers to women’s leadership” published in 2015 in Women in Business and Management: Gaining Momentum: Global Report suggests that gender-stereotypical portrayals of women, such as caregivers,are being used as an excuse by male-networks to prevent them from acquiring high-level positions within an organization and secure their own advancement. As claimed by her, “Women still face the hurdle of male networks that exclude them in business and workplaces.” (92). In other words, Wirth supports that, females are being oppressed and discriminated by male-dominated organizations who deprive them opportunities on their professional improvement. I agree with the author, because if women do not get hierarchy promoted, they won’t get the experience required in order to advance further their careers and reach the next level in the hierarchy.
Finally, that the existence of these barriers should be eliminated, because having female leaders also offers advantages to organizations. Having women leaders in organizations results in a better working environment. In, “Why we Need More Women Leaders.” published in CNN, on July 31, 2016, Gwen Young suggests that,females achieve a more collaborative leadership style in contrast to men who carry out a hierarchical and an authoritative one and noticeable progress has been made. Moreover, women have unique skills and different perspectives, that are able to solve today’s global problems. In accordance withYoung, “Today’s global problems require leaders that have diverse skill sets and innovation that can only come from diverse ideas and players. Women bring the skills, different perspectives and structural and cultural difference to drive effective solutions. In short, female leaders change the way global solutions are forged.” Young’s point is that, in order to develop a successful and profitable organization, women are required to be involved in the process, because women have different approaches as well as talents, that cannot be fulfilled by men and are needed for corporate improvement. Similarly, in, “When talking about bias backfires.” published in The New York Times on December 06 2014, Adam Grant and Sheryl Sandberg, argue that our community has a false assumption that suggests that men are more adequate in relation to women and women just decrease the workforce advancement that men can produce, whereas women not only do not decrease advancement, butthey improve it instead. As claimed by them, “When more women lead, performance improves. Start-ups led by women are more likely to succeed; innovative firms with more women in top management are more profitable; and companies with more gender diversity have more revenue, customers, market share and profits.”In essence, the authors believe that, the increase in women’s leadership, leads to progress and better results. By extension, having more female leaders is more likely to increase the profit.The authors’ argument is right because,women have a certain set of skills, talents, as well as abilities that cannot be replaced by men and are needed in today’s modern society in order for an organization to produce the best outcome possible.
To sum up, I argue that women face barriers that prevent them from climbing the corporate ladder and not because they are incapable. These barriers are childbearing, masculine stereotypes regarding leadership styles and male-networks within organizations. The first step for the barriers to be eliminated is that corporations must act and enforce male-dominated organizations to reexamine their structure which is been woven by men to support men and provide both males and females with equal opportunities within the workforce.
Works Cited
Dawson, Tricia. “Pay inequality in Manufacturing Industry: The Case of the Printing Industry.”
Discrimination at Work. edited by TessaWright and Conley Hazel. Routledge, 2011. e-book collection, acg.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=398202&scope=site.
Grant, Adam, and Sheryl, Sandberg. “When Talking About Bias Backfires” The New York Times, 06
Dec. 2014. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/opinion/sunday/adam-grant-and-sheryl-sandberg-on-discrimination-at-work.html. Accessed 13 July 2017.
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Goethals,et al., first edition, SagePublications,2004.CredoReference,https://acg.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/sagelead/barriers_to_women_s_leadership/0?Institutionid=5970 .Accessed 05 Jun 2017.
Matsa, David A. and Amalia R Miller. “Chipping Away at the Glass Ceiling: Gender Spillovers in
Corporate Leadership.” American Economic Review, vol. 101, no. 3, May 2011, pp. 635-639.
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Sandberg, Sheryl. “Why we Have Too Few Women Leaders.” YouTube. uploaded by
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McKimm, Judy, et al. “Women and Leadership in Medicine and Medical Education: International
Perspectives.” Gender, Careers and Inequalities in Medicine and Medical Education. edited by Maria Tsouroufli, Emerald Group Publishing, 2015. pp. 37-43. e-book collection, acg.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk& N=1075357&scope=site.
Wirth, Linda. “Barriers to women’s leadership” Women in Business and Management: Gaining
Momentum: Global Report.International Labour Organization, 2015.pp. 89-95e-book collection, acg.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=946160&scope=site.
Young, Gwen. “Why we Need More Women Leaders.” CNN.com, 31 July 2016.
edition.cnn.com/2016/07/29/opinions/women-rising-benefits-society-young/index.html. Accessed 13 July 2017.
