Historical Roles of Men and Women in Leadership

While analyzing professions held by men verses those held by women through history, the concept of history that needs to be observed is a vast period of time. For if all or most of known history about humans is not taken into consideration, then much of present day analysis of leadership gender roles might actually start to make sense. The previous sentence was not an error in thought or printing. Much of modern analysis of gender perspectives in leadership and the roles of men and women seem to forget the thousands of years of history and the more recent, evolution of gender equality, which has taken place to get to where we are at present day. The key word is evolution; we are slowly but steadily evolving into a better and more efficient society through gender equality. The meaning better society is one that will optimally utilize its best resources, including people. The past and the ignorance reflected from parts of history are most often overcome with generations of thought and action. Genders in society maybe not are equal quite yet, but through diligent efforts and time, they will be. There is much history and time to overcome to achieve equality. Typically, throughout history men have been the breadwinners in a family unit. Women in the past typically did more of the upkeep of the home and did not bring in an additional income. When they did bring an income, it was usually in some lesser complimentary role to the male. This situation holds true for married couples or single people. Different people throughout the world have many different histories. An example from Chinua Achebe's novel that takes place within a tribe in Africa during the 1920s stating that a strong man will have many wives (Achebe 20). Ironically in this same novel, it is shown that women could hold a priestess position. Similarly on the other side of the globe in South Korea, the view of giving birth to a girl is somewhat less elation than that of having a boy. In the Korean culture,