Standpoint Theory
RESPONSE PAPER ON STANDPOINT THEORY
KAVYA KASHYAP
20140121035
PGP 1 A
As I was doing my research on feminist Standpoint Theory I came across this article “Do We Hate Female Bosses?” on www.forbes.com written by Ruchika Tulshyan dated 3/26/2014. What followed were disheartening statistics and figures showing the paltry representation of well-liked female leaders. World over, both men and women prefer male bosses over female bosses. This harsh reality is confirmed by the fact that only 4.6 percent of public companies CEOs are female. Is it because females make bad leaders? Are male CEOs much more efficient than their female counterparts? Sadly there is no such evidence to prove any of the above assumptions. The abysmal representations of women in top positions has less to do with their lack of leadership skills and management qualities but more to do with the age old negative stereotyping of women bosses. The women in positions of authority always face a double bind- be tough and get called bitchy, but be soft and get accused of being weak. However the same toughness in a male boss is attributed to him as being assertive. There is a very blatant and deplorable double standard prevalent in the corporate society where the exact same behavior in a male boss is seen as a plus and in a female boss is seen as a negative. If a man is angry and is assertive and demanding, everyone awestruck, call him the ‘take charge kind of guy’. But when a woman does the same thing, people scorn and call her a bitch.
This understanding leads us to the development of the feminist standpoint where a person realizes that social expectations for females to behave in a certain way and be polite and sweet and sugary, and not be assertive and defying, reflecting how disparate the treatment is on the basis of gender when it comes to attributes like assertiveness.
But what is a standpoint? It can be defined as the position from which objects and principles are viewed and according to which
KAVYA KASHYAP
20140121035
PGP 1 A
As I was doing my research on feminist Standpoint Theory I came across this article “Do We Hate Female Bosses?” on www.forbes.com written by Ruchika Tulshyan dated 3/26/2014. What followed were disheartening statistics and figures showing the paltry representation of well-liked female leaders. World over, both men and women prefer male bosses over female bosses. This harsh reality is confirmed by the fact that only 4.6 percent of public companies CEOs are female. Is it because females make bad leaders? Are male CEOs much more efficient than their female counterparts? Sadly there is no such evidence to prove any of the above assumptions. The abysmal representations of women in top positions has less to do with their lack of leadership skills and management qualities but more to do with the age old negative stereotyping of women bosses. The women in positions of authority always face a double bind- be tough and get called bitchy, but be soft and get accused of being weak. However the same toughness in a male boss is attributed to him as being assertive. There is a very blatant and deplorable double standard prevalent in the corporate society where the exact same behavior in a male boss is seen as a plus and in a female boss is seen as a negative. If a man is angry and is assertive and demanding, everyone awestruck, call him the ‘take charge kind of guy’. But when a woman does the same thing, people scorn and call her a bitch.
This understanding leads us to the development of the feminist standpoint where a person realizes that social expectations for females to behave in a certain way and be polite and sweet and sugary, and not be assertive and defying, reflecting how disparate the treatment is on the basis of gender when it comes to attributes like assertiveness.
But what is a standpoint? It can be defined as the position from which objects and principles are viewed and according to which