Now, reflect upon and analyze what Rosabeth
Moss Kanter has to say and how that does or does not coincide with what Yukl
says about gender-based discrimination. Do you agree? Why or why not.
I
have been stewing and chewing on the subject of gender equality for almost two
weeks now. Honestly, I am annoyed and disappointed that we are still having this conversation. I won’t
belabor the point but I wanted to get that out there. Prof. Kanter touched on
quite a few interesting points. She talked about how “[D]iscrimination
sometimes happens quietly and behind closed doors.” (Kanter) Assumptions are
made about how dedicated a woman candidate might be to an organization because
of her obligations to family. “[I]t was assumed that effective leaders must be confident,
task-oriented, competitive, objective, decisive, and assertive, all of which
were traditionally viewed as masculine attributes.” (Yukl, 2013) Perhaps other
men thought that these attributes were masculine based on their biases – intentional
or not. I can tell you that I have known many women with these attributes who
have been passed over for positions and promotions that they were more than
qualified for.
It’s
important that managers make hiring/firing/promotion decisions based on what is
best for their team and ultimately the organization but I know that closed-door
discrimination happens. I don’t even know if it’s all necessarily that closed-door
or quiet. “[A] type of biased result can occur in a comparative study that
fails to take into account how organizational factors may have a differential
influence on the skills of men and women who are in the same type of leadership
positions.” (Yukl, 2013) Sometimes, managers are unintentionally discriminatory
but this doesn’t make it any easier. There is still a lingering feeling that
women won’t truly be able to commit to a high demand position because of obligations
to family – maybe it’s not really even a conscious thing anymore but it’s there.
I think that when making those decisions, hiring managers just have that little
thing in the back of their head that’s like, “Yeah she’s super qualified and
ambitious…but what if the baby is sick?” When working with new managers or on a
project team, I always mention that I don’t have any kids. I don’t know why I
do that but most likely it is because I too have bought into the idea that a
woman with a family won’t be able to hang with the guys.
There
are so many subtle gender discriminations that have become part of the culture
in corporate America. People assume I have kids until I tell them I don’t. When
I meet a man I don’t assume he has kids or is married…I just wonder how well
we’ll work together and I hope that he doesn’t like to microwave fish for lunch.
I can say the same about women though…I don’t assume that they have kids or a
spouse. (The working together and microwaving fish thing is the same too.) I
don’t think those things have any impact on how well a person does their job. I
don’t think those things have anything to do with how committed to the organization
the person is or how competent they are. In fact, women are actually programmed
to be better leaders. “The difference is a result pf childhood experiences,
parent-child interactions, and socialization practices that reflect cultural sex-role stereotypes and beliefs about
gender differences and appropriate occupations for men and women.” (Yukl, 2013)
We are programmed to be caretakers and have compassion for other people which
in turn makes women capable and impactful leaders. It is a sad thing when women
are underestimated. I have literally sat in meetings where I have made a
contribution to a conversation and no one even acknowledges that I’ve spoken. When
I raise my voice – which I’m not afraid to do - even a little to be heard above
the fray, my team will stop and ask me, “What’s wrong? Are you mad?” I just
smile and let them know that I was just trying to be heard over their
pontifications. I seriously get tired of having to fight that battle every day.
People think that I’m combative or inflexible when I make my points but I don’t
say it any differently than my male co-workers so I can only think that it’s that I’m
a woman. I find that if I preface a sentence with, “Maybe this is a dumb
question…” or “Maybe I misunderstood but did you say…” that I’m received
better. It is frustrating and humiliating.
One
of the questions that Prof. Kanter was asked was “Education is exactly the
same. Why aren’t the wages and opportunities?” (Kanter, 2010) People have more
choices and are better educated. Women and men receive the same educational
opportunities so when they graduate with the exact same degrees, why aren’t
they compared apples-to-apples? It just doesn’t make any sense. “What you do is
more important than who you are, and individual achievements can be an
important source of status and self-esteem.” (Yukl, 2013) I have the same
business degree as my co-workers but I’m the first one my boss comes to when he
wants to have a party or team-building exercise. I am the last person he thinks
of when there is a project to manage and I have a minor in project management.
My male co-workers all get to be part of high exposure workshops and business
travel but I have to beg to even be considered. One of the people I work with
won’t even carpool with me because he doesn’t want to be in a car alone with another
woman. I have a lot of respect for him; he is a deeply religious guy and
married but what does he think is going to happen? Why did he even have to tell
me this? It was awkward and made me feel ashamed for absolutely no other reason
than because I’m a woman. Clearly he wouldn’t have had that conversation with a
man.
I
feel like this reflection is a bit disjointed and maybe I’ve really overthought
this whole thing but in my opinion, it all just comes down to human nature. That
might sound a bit defeatist but women have had the same roles throughout all
the ages. I’m not accepting that as how it has to always be, but knowing where
we came from is important when understanding where we need to go. It’s just
that this journey is taking much longer than it should.
References:
Kanter,
R.M. (April 2, 2010). Women, Ambition and (Still) the Pay Gap. Uploaded on Apr
2, 2010. Harvard Business School. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhquUOlBuOY&feature=youtu.be&t=5s
Yukl,
G. A. (2013). Leadership in organizations (8th ed.). Boston: Pearson.
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