Gender in Leadership, Differences between Male and Female Leaders - Essay Example

Name : xxxxxxxxxxx Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxx Title : Gender and leadership Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx @2010 Gender in leadership Introduction Gender in leadership is mostly answers two questions; one, what are the main factors in determining if it is a female or a male who takes up a leadership position. The second question is if being a leader is always engineered by gender. Social scientists have established that there is a difference between gender and sex. Sex refers to the differences between males and females biologically and physiologically as well (Summer 2010). On the other hand, gender is about the cultural social structure of disparities between the sexes. These consist of the varying characters, responsibilities, behaviors, attitudes and skills that the males and females are expected to show by the society and all. Gender is about the connection either a female or male has with sex. Terms such as gendered language, careers or practices, are used in illustrating that genders involve a development of social construction. Such expressions are also used in making gender an elementary justification regarding organizational behavior verities, for instance, leadership (Summer 2010). Leader refers to the people who are holding official positions of leadership within versatile organizations, either in business, education, politics, arts and the sciences as well as careers. For a longtime, gender has excluded most females from being in such organizations; consequently, the presumption was that males are better leaders than females, till of late, was hardly ever questioned. From early 1970’s, this assumption has been criticized and proved wrong by several females who according to Bass and Stogdill's Handbook of Leadership, women have been prime ministers, which is a very prominent leadership position, and also women have held prominent government positions as well as managerial positions. Women have also achieved highly in terms of education. Furthermore, the presumption that most leaders are supposed to be males, has been analyzed various academic writings (Holmes 2010). Interests in gender in leadership started in the US in early 1970s, where females started holding management positions. Two kinds of literature aimed at helping females progress. The advice books informed people that the leadership was not entirely meant for men, but in reality belonged to the females, similar to foreign, unreceptive, and enemy territory: in order for the females to be thrive in leadership, they required to learn and adjust to the home language, dress as well as customs. Other literature argues that the disparities between females and males capability to perform responsible jobs are minimum, once females achieve the suitable job qualifications. Females therefore, deserve equal opportunities within early childhood in addition to higher education and equivalent access to each and every kind of career training and development. In such a case, women will be able to compete with males for leadership positions (Summer 2010). Why few female leaders? This is one of the key questions within the field of gender and leadership. Different reasons offered as the cause of the small number of female leaders. One is that the ambitions of females are negatively affected by their socialization during childhood especially in their families. Basically, the definitions of the suitable gender behavior are transmitted to the children by the family. For the young girl, it includes being submissive, passive, avoiding being aggressive and competition, being cautious and other aspects that are culturally accepted to be feminine. Studies have shown that both genders have the same career dream; boys get considerably more parental back-up to follow their dreams (Summer 2010). A result of this childhood socialization is the outcome of the childhood socialization is norm of perceiving females as less suitable for leadership positions when compared to men. According to several studies, competent managers are perceived to be possessing male characteristics even if the authentic qualities managers have are a combination of masculine and feminine characteristics. An apparent indication of this is that a male has a likelihood being given a leadership position than a female having a similar qualification (Goodale 2006). As a result, a female who aims for a leadership position should triumph over the childhood which affected some of the elementary leadership qualities, as well as an accepted opinion of masculinity and leadership; both which reduce the likelihood that the woman will be judged as qualified. Other than stereotyping and socialization, other obstacles to females’ prosperity in leadership positions include: females being discriminated when it comes to promotions, selection and management, shortage of females and males, who should be instructing women, management growth openings founded on profession rotation; geographic movement normally complicates a woman’s life because of the factors like children, partner’s job as well as some accord of the biological clock with some career’s policies, like professor’s term clock or lawyer’s partner clock. There is also the view that women are outsiders because of their physical differences, stereotype and lack of connections (Goodale 2006). Other reasons males frequently posses leadership positions is that females take up managerial positions humbly when compared to males, lack of opportunities for them to develop or where some organizations have a foundation of male leadership. Furthermore, apart from their careers, females normally have noteworthy responsibility of taking care of their families, hence draining the energy they may otherwise dedicate in pursuing leadership positions (Acker 2005). Differences between male and female leaders Even if early socialization as well as other barriers might hamper females from being leaders, the females who do rise do not exhibit considerable differences from males in the same kind of leadership positions. Male and female differences have been classified into three major managerial classifications. The first task is how the task is accomplished, how the leader organizes his or her activities. Interpersonal style follows which refers to how the leaders motivates the workers and forges relationships and how the leader manages to satisfies the organizational requirements. Finally, there is decision making style which is about. This entails how the leader endorses democratic approach rather than a dictatorial leadership type of approach (Hennig 2006). Some dissimilarities have been noted between males and females styles of accomplishing tasks and also in interpersonal styles. Males have been noted as being more task-oriented, while females have been noted to concentrate more on establishing favorable relationships. However, these differences have been noted within male and female specimens of lab experiment; this means that individuals were asked to hypothesize how they would behave in case they held leadership positions (Goodale 2006). Normally, such differences are not noted where tangible mangers are compared. Most observed conclusions are that females do not vary in their behavior with males in similar leadership positions. Furthermore, female managers with experience do not show any disparities in leadership capabilities from their male managers who are equally experienced. Actually, these females are apt to more strongly be like their male counterparts in terms of ambition, skills, character in addition to competitiveness, than the standard female within the population (Fletcher 2004). Some disparity has been observed in terms of male and female decision making. From, Acker 2005, females are likely to make use of a more democratic, participative style whereas males are likely to use a more autocratic, instructional approach. This difference has been observed practically and in reality. This is why some academics suggest that females are better leaders since they form discussions and communicate their ideas effectively when compared to males who in most cases are likely to use power while in leadership positions. There is proof that this is taking place and hence scholars are recommending the managers to take up a compassionate, supportive, collaborative, fostering, connective, servant leadership style (Bass 2006). How leadership is gendered If leadership position is absolutely a gendered model is the key question in gender and leadership arena. According to Acker 2005, gender is a component of the logic utilized within organizations to establish the practices that the organization should adopt. Most organizations profess on being neutral to gender, for instance, with their practices of filling an abstract occupation with an individual who has the necessary qualifications (Holmes 2010). However, when a leadership position requires someone to work for 12 hours daily, business meetings in addition to social occasions during weekdays, and leaves less time for non-job-allied responsibilities, most females (and, progressively more, men) cannot qualify for the leadership position due to their family obligations. The allegedly gender-neutral occupation, in that case, is not. The job and the organization where the job is results from the society that has been influenced by gender inclinations. They form the supposed gender responsibilities: a man working for a life-job within an occupation outside the home; a female working within home in order to take care of the partner and family as well (Holmes 2010). In this regard, each and every social practice is structured according to gender. This includes the social practice of management in addition to devising leadership within the organization. Since social practices have led to notable isolation of males and females, then the social practices have formed a “gendered” leadership. Therefore, gender has become an organizational element. Gender thus has become a feature that affects everyone and not sole individuals. Viewing gender in leadership in this regard is an ample approach. Bibliography Acker, J., 2005, "Gendering Organizational Theory." In Gendering Organizational Analysis, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA. Bass, B., 2006, Bass and Stogdill's Handbook of Leadership: Theory, Research, and Managerial Applications, Free Press, New York. Fletcher, K., 2004, Castrating the Female Advantage: Feminist Standpoint Research and Management Science," Journal of Management Inquiry, Vol.1/7. Goodale, J., 2006, Inheriting a Career: The Influence of Sex, Values, and Parents, Journal of Vocational Behavior, Vol. 8/19. Hennig, M., 2006, The Managerial Woman: The Survival Manual for Women in Business, Pocket Books, New York. Holmes, J., 2010, The Language of Female Leadership; Gender in Management, An International Journal, Vol. 25/3. Summer, s., 2010, A Woman's Touch? Gendered Management and Performance in State Administration Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Vol. 20: 477-504 Read More