Blog #30: Proving Yourself in a Man's World

Many conventional styles of leadership discourage women because they require the leader to exude a very high level of power and demand respect from their employees. This can be extremely difficult if the woman isn’t seen in a position of authority. Regardless of whether they are in the leadership position, there could be a staff full of men who have no respect for the woman. Conventionally, women are not viewed as very powerful people in the workplace. Therefore, getting their team on board with their ideas could be very difficult. If they are demanding too much power because of the lack of respect, this could be an even further setback for the woman in leadership because of her seeming “disrespect” for her employees. It is a situation that could quickly backfire on the leader. Men are at an extremely high advantage when it comes to leadership styles. They have been expected to be leaders for many of years, so there is never any questioning their authority. They often are picked first for these jobs, because employers know that they will have the instant respect of the staff instead of having to work for it like a woman would have to do.

Gender expectations shape leadership behavior, because women are not expected to be in positions of power. When they are, their entire behavior is normally different than what they had anticipated because they are getting emotionally charged due to the lack of respect. In the video, the speaker discussed that 92% of the population said they would vote for a woman president, however 50% of those people said they weren’t sure if the United States was ready for a step like that. This just shows, that people think that women in leadership are a good idea, but when push comes to shove, they aren’t given the opportunity because they cannot be trusted with such a position of power. They are afraid that their emotions will take control of their ability to do their job correctly. Men’s gender expectations set them up to be great leaders, they are expected to be powerful and brave, and not let their emotions stand in their way, and this is reflected in their leadership styles. These relate dramatically to the stereotypes that are put into place because the stereotypes often play a role in determining how the leadership will behave. If a woman is not expected to do well in a position of leadership, and she does not have the support of her staff, her behavior will become very aggressive to demand the respect that she feels she deserves.

I was in a position of leadership within my company a few years ago. I was not as knowledgeable as some of the other applicants about the product, but what they were looking for was my ability to lead the staff and promote good work ethic. I was placed in the job where my staff was all male and did not believe that I could do a good job. They went as far as to sabotage my numbers so I would look as if I was doing bad and would be removed from the position. I felt like I needed to give up my position and go back to the other department that I was working in before—full of women. I then realized that I wouldn’t ever make it far in this world if I continued to give into the stereotypes that were playing out in my life. I made a decision to be a very strong and Bureaucratic leader and that I would demand the respect of my staff. Once they figured out that I was serious and I wasn’t going anywhere, I quickly got their attention and was able to turn the situation around in my favor. It’s ridiculous how it takes a woman becoming “mean” and going against the way that I thought I should manage to scare the respect out of my current employees. Currently, I use this type of leadership to set the boundaries early in my positions and let them know that I will not fall subject to the typical stereotypes that have been placed for women in leadership.