Keith Davis defines leadership as “the ability to persuade others to seek defined objectives enthusiastically. The human factor binds people together and motivates them towards goals. ”Leadership thus defines the difference between success and failure. According to Carlyle (Carlyle, 1841/1907), Leadership is a person endowed with extraordinary qualities that are the source of his or her influence. These internal traits and situations are the factors that Carlyle based his great leadership on. However, since then there have been many studies on the subject to refute the fact that great leadership is based on one factor. Some of the traits that are noted by a majority as very essential to leadership are Honesty, Decisiveness, Organization, and Intelligence. However, these studies had to be disregarded due to several flaws. Does gender matter when it comes to leadership positions and the success affiliated?
Gender stereotypes are sets of cultural expectations popularly adopted by the mass majority. These roles and expectations are maintained partially because of the human need to belong. Some cultures have restricted gender stereotypes, while others have become more lenient and accepting of deviation from gender roles. Stereotypes are often created about people of specific cultures or races. However, these are not just focused on different races and backgrounds, there is also the existence of gender stereotypes in the workplace and these usually have long-term detrimental effects on the workforce of an organization.
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Women's gender stereotyping is more discussed when gender stereotypes are mentioned in the workplace. Many believe that the gender stereotyping of women has been a huge disadvantage to the advancement of women socially, through education, and in the workforce. Common gender-stereotypical qualities of women are submissive, quiet, neat, weak, clean, clumsy, incompetent, and motherly. These prevent them from speaking their minds, becoming active in strength-related sports and not progressing especially well in the workforce because of insecurity and the pressure to become a mother. Those who do not conform to gender roles are often considered harsh, controlling, or manly.
According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted on the question of what makes a great leader, and does gender matter? A significant majority agreed with the fact that based on the traits mentioned earlier, men and women leaders display these traits equally. When it comes to intelligence, 87% of the survey participants agreed that men and women share this trait equally, for honesty it was 68%, and then it was 61% for decisiveness and finally, for organization, it was 62%. The picture is not so different when the survey targets specific segments of the population. On the political scene, the results were even higher for those in agreement with the fact that men and women are equal when it comes to leadership traits that are essential and affect the success of the role. The segments were divided into Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. The outcome of the survey was 75% Republicans, 74% Democrats, and 76% Independents all agreed that when it comes to leadership traits, men and women exhibit the same degrees, and therefore women can make great political leaders just like men. On the business scene, however, there is a divided share of opinion on the topic, but this is only true when it comes to specific male-dominated sectors. Sports, Oil industry, and gas industry are some of the sectors where 54% of adults interviewed were of the view that men would do a better job at managing companies in these sectors. In the same way, some sectors are stereotyped as women leaders and will be better managed by women, some of these sectors are hospitality and retail.
Even though most of the public believes that gender does not matter when it comes to leadership, there is still a lot of stereotyping when women are leaders in institutions. In the states, although women make up 45% of the workforce, there are only 7 head Fortune 500 companies and 10 head Fortune 501-1000 companies. Stereotyping usually has a perception about women even before they are given the chance to prove themselves. These perceptions are based on the fact that men and women are different. Apart from it being difficult to even climb up the ladder because senior managers have the perception that women are not as good leaders as men. It usually takes women to work twice as hard to be noticed and promoted to managerial positions. Even when they do climb to the top the workers under them have similar perceptions and therefore behave differently towards women leaders than they do towards men leaders. Stereotyping women in corporations prevents women from climbing the corporate ladder.
According to Hofstede, Countries such as Hungary, Japan, Austria, Slovak Republic, Italy, and Canada, just to list but a few are recorded as countries with between 80 to 100% high Masculinity when it comes to Power systems. With this, they believe that work prevails over family and that since in the social cycles, the male is seen as the head of the home; it should be the same in the work field. Women are thus seen as weaklings and not capable of taking charge of high management positions since in this system, it is believed that men deal with facts and women deal with feelings. A preference for heroism, assertiveness, and material reward for success is what is mainly targeted and thus there is a larger wage gap between genders.
Several feminist theories such as Walby's theory, Catherine Hakim's theory, and Radical, Marxist, and Liberal feminists’ theories affirmed that one’s biological sex is different from their gender. Although these theories might be vital for feminist analysts, has been criticized for not being able to deal with historical and cross-cultural variation in the forms of women's subordination. One can depict whether or not there is gender inequality in the workplace and whether should it be eliminated or not. While masculinity was seen as a socially constructed personality type and the source of social ills and women’s oppression, feminist theories defined femininity as a personality type that is forced onto girls through socialization and, for adult women, required and enforced by men to serve men’s interests. One cannot thus be judged on whether they can fully function in an institution based on their gender or their sex.
Although there seem to be several successful men out there in high management positions, there are also an amazing number of women making history through huge wins in the working field as leaders of their institutions. Examples of such are Sarah Breedlove (An American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and apolitical and social activist), Liliane Bettencourt, Oprah Winfrey, Njeri Rionge, Isabel do Santos, J.K.Rowling, and Vera Wang, amongst others who cut across several industries. Besides these, even the life expectancy surveys contradict the belief that males function better than females in institutions. A country like France records an average of 74 years for females against an average of 69 years for males.
According to Chemers, 2000 explanations for stereotypes can be explained by three theories namely biological, structural, and cultural. These explanations show the differences between men and women, biological deals with hormones and temperaments. Culturally males and females are socialized for different roles in life.
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