Leadership Stereotypes

The Stereotype I have selected is the assumption that “men are better than women in leadership roles.” Denotative features are that gender plays a role in the outcome of success and that typically men are able to lead better and fruit success more often. It has connotative meanings such as masculine and feminine qualities and traits ascribed to it that our society or culture have labeled. It is the general view of society that successful leaders must have characteristics such as dominance and assertiveness, which are not found in the gender norms of a woman. In the case of a woman, they are emotional, quiet, weak, etc. The stereotype operates as a “sign” for women who are the signifiers being oppressed by society’s view and values. Plus this
results in women being signified facing difficult obstacles to climb up the ladder such as gender wage gaps and glass ceilings.

These generalizations and assumptions create a set of myths implying women are not suited for top management positions, which discourage women for trying to reach the top and attaining high-level positions such as being a CEO, engineer, lawyer, etc. The type of representation this stereotype belongs to is a patriarchal regime where an organization, group, system are controlled by men. It is related to other stereotypes such as men are more logical than women, and women are usually viewed to be submissive and passive, while men are often seen to be aggressive and self-confident. All these stereotypes operate in relationship to each other for example providing as a template for society to use in situations such as evaluations, interviews, etc. This results not only in children, but the society at large to grow up in a particular way only to satisfy others. However, all women have some so-called masculine qualities and all men have some so-called feminine traits. The discursive framework in which this stereotype operates is that it forces men to suppress their emotions or feminine qualities and always show a strong character. The same thing applies to women who are interested in math or sciences is seen inferior or choose different career choices because of what they were told, heard, and seen. They are forced to give up on their dreams such as a man wanting to be a nurse or a woman who hopes to be an astronaut. To be not who you really are is a destructive habit.

We can contest the stereotype by experimenting with different interpretive strategies such as replacing it with a positive stereotype for example because women experience and face numerous challenges on their way to the upper echelons, women who have made it to high positions will be viewed and seen highly with significant capabilities.
Another strategy we can use is reverse the negative connotations of the stereotype where women are found to think about others than themselves, such as thinking and taking care of the kids, the husband, and the parents much more than men. They can be a great asset to a company where they are focused more on improving the companies, employees, and customers satisfied. The environment and culture of the organization definitely seem to play a role in the stereotype in which men or women leaders were more effective. For example, in a male dominated organization like the military or the government, men excelled more, as masculine traits are needed. In contrast, women excelled in areas such as education and social services where it has more of a ‘feminine’ setting. We can also deconstruct the meaning of the stereotype and explode the myths, which keep women stuck in a particular place or level by constantly challenging them through the media plus with research studies and updating with facts. Another great strategy is to push gender balance where there needs to be a close even amount of men and women in a work area. Creating policies such as for every male a company hires, a woman also needs to be hired next balancing the ratio of the company representing close to a fifty-fifty of men and
women.

The potential pitfalls of these various strategies are that even with hard work you are not guaranteed to the top because it is sometimes determined by “who you know”. With the environment factor, problems can rise where majority of women are encouraged work in feminine environments such as being a nurse or secretary creating another stereotype in the future or even overpopulating those job positions, which can hinder men trying to attain those jobs. Although some of these strategies may not be adopted immediately, it will ring the issue louder and catch the attention of everyone in the long run. Out of these strategies the most effective in contesting the stereotype and in transforming it into a complex social formation is reversing the negative connotations of the stereotype and inhabiting it because the situation changes in different environments. As stated above we can view the qualities of a woman such as nurturing, accepting, graceful, etc. as positive traits that definitely excel in fields or area such as nursing, the safety and feelings of others, etc. This will allow stronger connections between employees and employers, companies and its customers, plus much more which will all boost the overall of any company or business.