MEMORANDOM

TO: Dr. Cowart

FROM: Joshua Boutin

DATE: 2/26/12

SUBJECT: Discrimination against Women in Leadership

THE STRUGGLE FOR WOMEN

It is a known fact that more women are now becoming, corporate leaders, managers, bosses, and

many other leadership positions. Of course in this day and age in America we have more women

in these positions now than ever due to laws and guidelines enforcing equality for workers of

different genders, races, and cultures. But the thing is even with these laws in place there are still

cases where women are looked down upon or people just dont feel comfortable with women

being in these leadership positions. This kind of negative judgment doesnt just come from men,

but from some women as well. We have laws such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which

outlawed discrimination against women, and African Americans. This made opened a way for

women to become equal in the workplace, but there were still some cases of discrimination in the

workplace. This is why the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was established to

which investigates and fights against workplace discrimination. Since we had to create the

(EEOC), we were aware that even though there was a law in place against discrimination, the

problem still existed. There was a survey where a group of women were asked how they felt

about the laws that were in place for womens rights and if they are properly enforced. Their

responses they agreed that the laws were great On paper yes, but not necessarily in practice.
(How Can Women Become Leaders in the Workplace). After reading that statement I could say

that I agree with that response. I do believe that most of the laws are great but they just arent

consistently enforced or its just really hard to determine if and when discrimination is actually

occurring. This is possibly due to the fact that some acts of breaking the law are not as obvious

and people try to get away with them. As far as discrimination prevention in the workplace goes,

companies have things such as a code of ethics, sexual harassment policies, and anonymous

hotlines to report issues to.

In a place like America I think that there is a decent size portion of the population that is

acceptant of the fact that women can be just as capable as men in a leadership or CEO position.

But there are still people who arent fully confident with the capability of a woman as a leader.

Outside the United States, there are different cultures where it could be even harder for a woman

to get into a leadership position or to even get a job in the first place. Different cultures have

different backgrounds and views on the way their society should behave. I personally would

hope that eventually all women and men could have equal opportunities and equal views of each

other in the workforce. But I know that having this happen all over the world is unlikely, though

I do hope that the acceptance of women and men to sharing leadership positions and equality in

the workforce could become more of a worldwide accepted fact.

GENDER BIAS BARRIERS NOT HELPING THE COST

Some people may be fine with having a women as a in a leadership position in a company, but as

recent times shown some people were concerned about having a woman as the President of the

United States. I think that one of the reasons people could be uncomfortable with women being
in leadership positions in the workforce is the fact that over time our Nation had developed some

gender bias views in occupations that women and men are most suited work in. For instance jobs

like nurses, secretaries, and teachers use to be considered jobs only females worked. As for males

things such as construction, management positions, and doctors were jobs typically held by men.

When a person of the opposite gender of the normal gender for the job some people considered

it to be an odd choice. But over time, some of those gender biases have faded. An article from

Single Minded Women stated that Certain careers may skew toward men, but career-minded

women, many of whom are single, are slowly changing the employment landscapeand the

skyways. (Career Choice and Gender Bias).

From the standpoint of some men, I believe there are many factors as to why a man may be

uncomfortable with a woman being a leader. One of the factors is that I think some of the men

think that leadership is a heavy responsibility and should be handled by a man. This leadership

position would probably also come with the task of dealing with a number of other leaders who

majority is mostly men. A man who thinks that a woman isnt as capable to handle a leadership

position probably believes that she wouldnt perform well when dealing with other men. They

could also think that if the other CEOs in other companies see that the CEO of their company is a

woman, they may look at their company and not have the same respect and appreciation for

them. This view of a woman not being able to be a leader as well as a man could possibly be

reduced if more women were given chances to be leaders. In a place such as a corporate office,

choosing a new leader for the company may not happen very often. But when this does

replacement for a new leader does happen, usually a majority of the qualified candidates would

probably be male. The reason why most of these candidates are male is because males hold most

of the management/higher up positions are held by males. An article entry from Bloomberg
asked and answered the question of How many of those corner offices are occupied by women?

For the vast majority of U.S. workplaces, the answer is, 20% or less, even though women make

up 48% of the total workforce. (Arnst). If more women were in those positions then it could be a

possibility to have more qualified individuals who are female.

NEVERENDING DESCRIMINATION

In this day and age its hard to believe that discrimination will ever end. We have laws and

guidelines and morals that exists to fight against discrimination, sadly I think that discrimination

can never truly be eliminated. Even if you dont see the discrimination up front, you cant see

what kind of discrimination is sometimes present in peoples minds. For example a journal entry

stated that organizational hierarchies in which men predominate, along with practices that

equate leadership with behaviors believed to be more common or appropriate in men, powerfully

if unwittingly communicate that women are ill-suited for leadership roles; peoples tendency to

gravitate to those who are like them on salient dimensions such as gender leads powerful men to

sponsor and advocate for other men when leadership opportunities arise (Ely, R. J., Ibarra, H.,

& Kolb, D. M). Due to the fact that barriers such as this one may exist in a company, women

may have to strive really hard to get these positions. Sometimes the only way to get into a

leadership position would be to have former experience as a leader or to know someone who has

some say in the company and can vouch for them. But getting those kinds of positions could be

tough for both men and women due to todays tough job market. I would hope that most people

would eventually be able to look over factors such as if a person was a male or female and just

look at whether the applicant is are qualified or not. I know that some jobs may be more male or

female oriented, such as jobs that involved heavy lifting. But if there was a female that was just
as qualified as a male to do the lifting and thats what they desired to do, they should be allowed

to do it as long as they are able to meet the requirements. In order to find out how qualified each

individual is, I believe companies need to conduct a test then look at the results of the test that

each individual took and base their decision on who performed the best.

THE STEPS TOWARD ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION

Well as I previously stated, I do strongly believe that women should be considered equally as

capable as men when it comes to positions in leadership. Ultimately I feel this way mainly

because I dont believe that neither men nor women should be discriminated on what they can or

cant do. I believe that a woman can be a good manager and I believe that a man can be a good

father as a stay at home dad. If thats what works for their family financially and time wise, and

they shouldnt have to worry about how society in America would view them. Since we have

come from a past where people believed certain roles should be played by certain gender, its

understood that it may take a while for people to fully except this change. But in recent times we

have made a few steps in the right direction. Recently women have taken many leaps forward

towards equality in the workforce, in the Ney York Times there was an article that stated, Men

now make up only 42 percent of the nation's college students, and with sex discrimination fading

and their job opportunities widening, women are coming on much stronger, often leapfrogging

the men to the academic finish (Lewin, Tamar). I think that this is a good sign of the amount of

progress we have made towards becoming more equal. But discrimination against other genders

is a tough topic to think about when thinking globally. America is just one part of the world

where such progress towards more equality has happened. There are still many other places

where women have to live under strict rules and guidelines. With each location being culturally
different in their own ways, its hard for one to see an end to certain types negative treatment

that we may see in other cultures. But at the same time I dont think we should just force our way

of thinking onto other cultures, I personally would at least hope that the treatment of people in

each culture would be respectful regardless of gender.

WORKS CITED
"How Can Women Become Leaders in the Workplace?" http://www.mywage.org/zimbabwe.

Web. 13 Feb. 2012. <http://www.mywage.org/zimbabwe/main/women-and-work/how-

can-women-become-leaders-in-the-workplace>.

"Career Choice and Gender Bias." Women's Health, Women's Relationships, Single Women's

Work Life, Single Mothers, Money, Careers and Travel: Singlemindedwomen.com. 2009.

Web. 18 Feb. 2012. <http://singlemindedwomen.com/careers-for-women/career-choice-

and-gender-bias/>.

Arnst, Cathy. Women in Leadership: The 20% Rule. Bloomberg Businessweek:

www.businessweek.com October 8, 2008. Web. 20 Feb. 2012.

<http://www.businessweek.com/careers/workingparents/blog/archives/2008/10/women_i

n_leader.html>.

Ely, R. J., Ibarra, H., & Kolb, D. M. (2011). Taking Gender Into Account: Theory and

Design for Women's Leadership Development Programs. Academy Of Management

Learning & Education, 10(3), 474-493. <http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/detail?

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a760c7273144%40sessionmgr111&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2Nvc

GU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#db=bth&AN=67074186>

Lewin, Tamar. "At Colleges, Women Are Leaving Men in the Dust." The New York Times.

The New York Times, 09 July 2006. Web. 28 Feb. 2012.

<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/09/education/09college.html?pagewanted=all>.