Women in Management - Term Paper Example

WOMEN IN MANAGEMENT ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­___________________________________________________________ Why there are relatively few women in top managerial positions and what steps might be taken to overcome the obstacles they face? (Your name) (College) (Date) Abstract ‘Management’ and ‘men’ have been thought together and considered to be better suited than ‘management’ and ‘women’. Many researches have been conducted on this in order to explore why ‘females’ are not in there in the management mainstreams. There are a number of factors that make women disappointed with managerial workplace environment and thus they prefer not to come to this career or to disappear from the line. This work explains why there are few women in management positions based on the literature review and findings of researchers in the field. Gender discrimination, bias, sexual harassment, cultural, social and conventional factors all led women not to prefer management career line. This work analyses what measures can be taken in order to bring women in to the management mainstream. Introduction People think ‘men’ when they think of ‘management’ has been discussed for long by researchers, managements and organizations. Historically, the social attitudes towards ‘women management’ had prohibited most women from becoming managers in functional areas of management. The assumption that women are not as better suited for management traits as men had been, until recently, rarely questioned and seldom explored. Even though most perceive that not only men but women are also capable of management traits, why there are few women in management has been a matter of relevant discussion. This work analyses the reasons why there are few women in management positions and what measures need to be taken in order to bring women managers in to the mainstream. Women in Management Surveys and researches conducted throughout different countries have proved that women in management are fewer disproportionately to the rate of population and education. There continues to be a great disparity in women representation in management when compared to the number of women educated. Women around the world now represent about more than 40% of the total workforce, but their roles in management and leadership remained comparatively low. According to Sanghamitra Buddhapriya (1999), organizational roles have been traditionally gendered. Certain levels and positions have been considered to be more appropriate to women or men. The gendered aspect made men with occupying dominance over women. (p. 3). Those who have reached some higher level managerial positions are constantly being challenged by ever changing working environment. For women managers and leaders, the affirmation and support from a larger community remains still uncommon. Three is an increasing trend that women managers are more likely to join in those service sectors where there are more women occupied and this shows that women feel that they would probably face difficulties in a workplace where less women are there and this remains a barrier to them. The male domination in the organizational structures and management systems mainly because of that they hold positions of ownership and control has also restricted women to enter in to the managerial positions. Marilyn Davidson (2004) is of the opinion that even though managerial and professional women are at least as well educated and trained almost as male managers and are being hired by organization in approximately equal numbers, women are still not entering in to the top and ranked managerial positions (p. 2). Managerial Traits Trait theory is based on the belief that managers and leaders differ in some fundamental ways from non-managers or non-leaders (Ann Harriman, 1996, P. 154). Men have biological or psychological characteristics that make them more suitable for managerial positions. Women possess their own stereotypical traits and hence they lack many managerial traits that can be seen among men managers. Women were seen less favorably in terms of the knowledge, motivation, aptitude, skills, temperament and work habits that are demanded in most managerial positions (Ann Harriman, 1996, P. 154- 155). Gender-centered or person- centered hypothesis suggests that women’s characteristics such as attitude, traits, skills, behavior, and socialization make them away from managerial positions (Ronald J. Burke, 2002, p. 6). It also suggests that women in mnay countries are deprived of higher education due to cultural, economic and family reasons and thus they became less competent for managerial positions. Women are absent mainly in upper level management positions due to that they lack skills or characteristics required for attaining high level managerial positions has been termed as “gender- centered’. Cheris Kramarae (2000) emphasized that women may possess better skills than men, especially for supporting and empowering others, but more contrary these skills even have been identified as critical to managerial success (p. 1299). Situation-centered Some researches proved that there are few women managers in top executive positions due to gender discrimination and this has been described as situation- centered. Cheris Kramarae (2000) explained that when there are sex discrimination within a working place, it results in conferring little or no power and offer fewer opportunities for further improvement (p. 1299). Gender discrimination can be seen in many organizations especially when the opinion raised by a woman manager may not be as accepted as the opinion provided by men counterparts even when both look equally valuables and good enough. Boys and girls are always treated differently and this can have a long term cultural and social impact on everything they are concerned. Rhode, D.L (2002) explains how boys and girls treated differently and how this can bring differences in almost all fields like management and leadership. “All those pink and blue baby clothes, sex differentiated Pampers, trucks and dolls come to mind. And the adult world provides plenty of examples such as the table banging man or female caring boss- that could have plausibly resulted from gender role socialization” (p. 60- 61). It shows how much children have been socialized in most communities and how these can have d greater impacts on gender differences too. Situation-centered hypothesis is based on the conception of bias and discrimination of majority on minority and it suggests that women become backward in managerial positions because of bias and stereotypes of women. Generally, there are negative assumptions in executive ranks about women, their skills, their abilities and their commitment to the management career. Gender discrimination occurs in organizations where there are perceptions that women don’t fit with the corporate culture and they will not relocate for career advancement. Disappearing Trend It has been viewed as an increasing trend among women that they, even after they joined in management career, chooses to quit the job and disappears. Fletcher. J (2001) describes why most women are deprived of the managerial and leadership opportunities in various situations. There can be different working cultures within a workplace. When a manager does a low-status work, it can be considered to be a good strategy to show better competency. But, for others it may not be the same. Whenever some managers and leaders do low-status work like ‘picking a soldering iron’ they may recognize the value that would be added and think that it is not something to be generally done by all. This cultural or conventional wisdom warns women to be away from these sorts of behavior (p. 92-93). Apart from the gender discriminations or managerial traits, there are other occasions of different cultural and conventional problems that are more likely to lead women think of disappearing fr0m the management career. Fletcher. J (2001) has provided various situations and examples that explain the reason behind the ‘disappearing trend’. This is thought provoking in a way that most think of women as escaped from management career due to their disabilities, bias and discrimination within the workplace concerned, but there are cultural, conventional other factors that led women become away from management forefront. Bringing women to the mainstream Representation of women in management has not yet reached an acceptable rate proportionately to their education and population in any country. In many developed countries, women represent less than10 % of the top level managers. In countries like India, this is comparatively too low. There are increasing demands for top level mangers among large organizations and they can make use of man power resources if they can reach women skilled managers in a more effective way. Education The basic requirement for advancement into women’s management is an appropriate level of education. Presently, in US, UK and some other developed countries, women representation in business school has reached 50 % or more and this can make positive changes in organization to utilize women managers in all levels of managements (Cheris Kramarae, 2000, p. 1299). Women in some other countries also increasingly attending business education and training and this trend shows that women are entering in to business world with the same education attained by their counterparts. Providing additional assistance to the women who enter in to business education can help motivate and increase the numbers in the field. Now most organizations face scarcity of skilled and highly educated managers and this can be overcome with bringing women managers in to the management career frontline. Equal Opportunity Law In order to protect women in the workplace from the bias, discriminations and sexual harassment that cause them leave the management job; there should be strong legal support and equal employment legislation. The US, Australia and UK have been the most vigorous with respect to passing and enforcing legal employment legislation (Cheris Kramarae, 2000, p. 1299). Even though there are equal opportunity laws in some countries, for example India, they up to a certain extent fail to enforce the law throughout the organizations. Women and men need to be equally hired on the basis of qualifications and educations. Legislation has the effect of forcing all employers to select, hire, train and promote employees on the basis of job and education related criteria. Conclusion This work presents a detailed analysis on the role of women in management and it explains why there are few women in the management field. The attempt is given on finding the factors that led women leave management career and disappear from the management forefront. How women can be brought to the mainstream of management and what measures can be done have been detailed in this work. References Buddhapriya S (1999), Women in Management, APH Publishing Burke R.J and Nelson D.L (2002), Advancing womens careers: research and practice, Edition: illustrated, Wiley-Blackwell Coughlin L (2005), Enlightened power: how women are transforming the practice of leadership, Edition: illustrated, John Wiley and Sons Davidson M and Burke R.J (2004), Women in management worldwide: facts, figures, and analysis, Edition: illustrated, Ashgate Publishing Fletcher J K (2001), Disappearing Acts: Gender, Power, and Relational Practice at Work, MIT Press Harriman A (1996), Women/men/management, Edition: 2, illustrated, Greenwood Publishing Group Kramarae C and Spender D (2000), Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women: Identity politics to publishing, Routledge Rhode D L (2003), The difference "difference" makes: women and leadership, Published by Stanford University Press Read More