Question of gender equality

Gender Equity

Gender equity has been a source of contention for many years. Initially, males were thought to be superior to women. However, I believe that men and women are equal and should be given equal opportunities in the workplace. Many organizations have disparities in how they treat men and women. However, I agree that when it comes to working openings, all genders should be granted equal opportunities.

Gender Disparity in Positions of Leadership

Gender disparity is most visible in positions of leadership. In most nations, males predominate in positions of leadership. Because of the chauvinistic nature of the culture, the sector is mostly male-dominated. Furthermore, most professions have a strong gender distinction. It is not a rule, but society has made us believe that there is a great difference between men and women when it comes to intellect and hard work. The next essay will look into the different methods women are treated in various places of work. We will discuss how different women managed to rise above and become productive and active members of society. We will discuss the various stereotypes women face as they go about their day to day activities.

Women in Workforce

Most societies consider men to be superior to women. In most of these societies, men are assumed to be the breadwinners of the house. Their primary duty in the household is to provide for the family. Females, on the other hand, are expected to stay at home and work on house chores. Their main work was to perform duties around the house such as cleaning, cooking, washing clothes, and taking care of the children among others. Most of the women did not acquire an education; they were not expected to attend school. However, in modern society, a lot of these myths have changed. Women had risen above the obstacles on their way and managed to become better and productive people in society. Nevertheless, society has not fully grasped this idea. Most institutions look down on women. They do not allow women to occupy various managerial positions. Moreover, women are inferior and cannot do whatever men decided to do. A few women in these spheres have defied this myth because nowadays women play a significant role become prominent in society and even their workforce. Women have proved that due to the equal chances, a man and a woman can perform a similar task and produce equally incredible results.

Gender Diversity in Leadership

Society has a notion that the most luxurious duties and those that require a lot of skills should be given to men. The society believes that women cannot do a task with the same knowledge a man can. The notion not only applies to the job industry but also education. People believe that only males can get good grades and pursue good careers. However, women have proved to be equally as good as men. Under the similar conditions, men and women can do given tasks with equal skill and produce superb results.

Challenges Faced by Women in Leadership

Our focus will be based mainly on women’s leadership in society. We shall study the various challenges women in leadership face in their day to day lives. We will attempt to find out the origin of such notions. Also, we will discuss the areas in the community that apply this school of thought. We will study the pros and cons of such thoughts. We will also look at how the various notions have affected the performance of women in the various sectors in which they work.

Gender Disparity in Global Leadership

Many societies perceive leadership as a masculine activity. Men occupy most of the leadership positions. Currently, globally there exist 18 women leaders (Carnes et al. 168). The society has brainwashed individuals to believe that men are better than women in matters pertaining to leadership. There are particular regions in the world whereby people are disqualified for leadership positions based on their gender. It is difficult for women to get a chance to express their opinions in such countries only because they are regarded as the inferior gender.

Low Representation of Women in Leadership

According to statistics, carried out by the United Nations, the percentage of females in the world is 49.6% while that of males is 50.4%. However, the percentage of women with leadership positions is almost negligible. Very few countries have females as their head of states. Currently, there are only 18 female leaders in the world, 12 heads of government and 11 elected heads of states. These figures exclude the countries ruled by monarchical systems. In general, only 10% of the world’s leaders are women. Most of these women are the first women to hold these positions in their countries.

The Influence of Gender Bias in Leadership Elections

A country, for instance, the United States has never had a female president. However, during the 2016 elections, the state had a female candidate Hillary Clinton. Hillary was competing against Donald Trump, who is the current president. During the elections, most of the citizens did not seem to agree with Trump’s manifesto. With this, it seemed that they would vote for Hillary. But again, Hillary was a female president. Most of the citizens stated that they would rather vote for Trump rather than Hillary as they could not vote for a female candidate. In the long run, Trump won the elections mainly because of his gender (Britton 130).

Increasing Number of Female Leaders

The number of female leaders has doubled since 2005. Most countries, leadership is perceived as a man’s task. Finding a woman in a leadership position is tough. According to the Business Insider Magazine, (13) companies that have women as their Chief Executive Officers or these posts have better performance than those whose CEOs are men. The author of the magazine states that women’s activity in the global economy is quite negligible. Also, he claims that the presence of women in a corporation is relative to their performance. If a company were to hire several women, the increase in performance would be tremendous.

Stereotypes Faced by Women in Leadership

For a long time now, the society believed that women cannot make decisions, as well as men, do. However, the women in leadership positions have proved that decision-making has nothing to do with gender. In most companies, the decisions and contributions of women are usually negated. This is due to the small numbers of women in the corporations. If the number increases, their voice will increase, and consequently, their contributions are taken with more seriousness. Various studies show that those firms with gender diversity have better performances compared to those that are centralized on one gender.

The Role of Women Empowerment in Leadership

In discussion with Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama urged people to adopt the notion of feminism and encourage more women to pursue their dreams. She stated that their societies demean most of the women. According to her, most of the societies do not encourage women to pursue leadership positions. Michelle stated that women who are already in power should come out to encourage younger women to arise and let their voices be heard. Gender equality can only be achieved if women support one another. Otherwise, it will be a fruitless campaign.

Stereotypes and Perception of Women in Leadership

There are a number of stereotypes associated with women in leadership positions. People believe that women in leadership are often lonely and single (Britton 143). However, this is not true. Women in leadership have the ability to exercise power in their areas of work and lives as well. Most men find this trait intimidating. As such, these women end up sacrificing their personal lives for leadership. They are not stopped by men who feel insecure about themselves rather go ahead to prove them wrong. Women can focus better on leadership when they are single as they do not face critics from their spouses. As a result, they exhibit exemplary performance in their various positions.

Perception of Masculinity in Women Leaders

Men perceive women in power to be masculine and unattractive (Strauss n.p.). Also, they say that such women do not have emotions and, as such, cannot hold a relationship. According to them, women need to be emotional, loving, and caring so that they can perform their motherly duties properly. Several women, who are holding leadership positions, can work quite well in their areas of work and at the same time be responsible mothers and wives. Being a leader does not mean one cannot handle a family. A woman should know how to handle both family and work duties differently. Each of these requires different treatment. Women who can differentiate these two (family and work duties) make extraordinarily great leaders.

Societal Perception of Women’s Ability to Lead

The society perceives women as a weak gender (Oplatka 606). They are considered soft and not able to implement rules on their own. Leadership, on the other hand, requires tough people who can take a bull by its horns. Women in leadership positions are considered tough and brave. Men find such women intimidating. As such, men try as hard as possible to have such women not occupy leadership positions (Oplatka 606).

Discussion with Clybun Nancy

In an attempt to discover the stereotypes women in leadership face on a daily basis, Clybun Nancy, to discuss this issue with me. Nancy is a humanitarian and a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Nancy’s biggest concern was the discrimination female professors faced in universities. Being a technologically oriented university, the male lectures at MIT look down on female lecturers. According to them, these female lecturers are only there by chance. They claim that females are clumsy and lack knowledge, especially in the fields of science and technology.

When she gave me an example when Dava Newman was declared the Deputy Administrator at NASA, Dava faced a lot of opposition from his male counterparts. Several people hoped to occupy this position but did not qualify. Her main aim is to be able to reach out to the females who are put down by their male counterparts. She urges people to work hard and with integrity so that they attain their goals. She said that several women in the world do not exploit their potential simply because the society looks down on them. She also claimed that if more women work hard and unlock their potential, there will be more women in leadership positions, consequently reducing discrimination against women.

Conclusion

To conclude, it is evident that having equal opportunities, men and women can perform and produce exemplary results, not only in leadership but also other fields. Gender does not define skill, knowledge nor does intellect rather the individual. With hard work and dedication, anyone can achieve anything. Also, people should be given equal opportunities to express and nurture their talents. It is high time we stop defining people with gender rather their level of intellect and hard work. If we continue choosing our leaders based on gender, we will end up locking out those with high potential of leadership in them. Also, the society needs to encourage all its members and assure them of gender equality. Even as the focus shifts to empowering the girl child, the boy child should not be neglected. Males and females need to be given equal chances in every sector of society if we are to have a balanced and productive society that utilizes all its resources.

Works Cited

Britton, Dana M., and Lisa Hetfield. Junctures in Women’s Leadership: Business. Illustrated ed., Rutgers University Press, 2016.

Carnes, Molly et al. “Advancing Women’S Health And Women’S Leadership With Endowed Chairs In Women’S Health”. Academic Medicine, vol 92, no. 2, 2017, pp. 167-174. Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health), doi:10.1097/acm.0000000000001423, http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Citation/2017/02000/Advancing_Women_s_Health_and_Women_s_Leadership.17.aspx

Interview with Clybun Nancy, a student and humanitarian at Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Oplatka, Izhar. “Women and Leadership in Higher Education.” Gender and Education, vol. 28, no. 4, 2 July 2015, pp. 606–608., doi:10.1080/09540253.2015.1049813. Accessed 8 Mar. 2017, http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09540253.2015.1049813?journalCode=cgee20

Strauss, Valerie. “Five Stereotypes about Poor Families and Education.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 28 Oct. 2013, www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2013/10/28/five-stereotypes-about-poor-families-and-education/?utm_term=.0e05780c6850#comments. Accessed 8 Mar. 2017.