Gender,
Leadership, and the
Natural Order
Rosalind Chait Barnett, Ph.D.
Community, Families & Work Program
Women’s Studies Research Center
Brandeis University
4th Annual
Iowa
Women’s Leadership
Summit
4th Annual
Iowa
Women’s
Leadership
Summit
Friday, April 25, 2008, Iowa State University
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As I’m sure you are all aware, we have a cultural bias in the
U.S. towards thinking that women are not capable of being effective
leaders.
This bias is clearly reflected in the media treatment of
women in politics and business.
1
Belief in the
Natural Order of Things
4th Annual Iowa Women’s Leadership Summit
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One driver of this bias is the belief in the natural order of
things.
2
In the natural order, women
are uniquely endowed for
domesticity and nurture.
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3
In the natural order, men are
presumed to be uniquely
endowed for leadership;
women are not.
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• Males are dominant and natural
leaders
• Females are submissive and natural
followers.
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Put simply, by nature, men take charge and women take
care.
If this thinking is correct, then powerful women, women in
leadership positions are anomalies; they go against the natural order.
Like other beliefs, this belief shapes our perceptions,
expectations, our behaviors, and importantly what the next generation
learns about women and leadership.
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“we have a tendency to see every
instance that confirms our stereotype
and we filter out all the
counterexamples.”
Diane Halpern, Ph.D.
Claremont-McKenna College
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The belief in gender difference in leadership is reinforced
endlessly.
One particularly insidious and well-documented way is
through a process social psychologists call stereotype confirmation.
Once we have a stereotype in our heads – like women can’t
lead – we have a tendency to see every instance that confirms our
stereotype and we filter out all the counter examples.
Because these beliefs are so powerful, we need to
understand them better and explain how they propagate.
These beliefs even color the interpretation scientists make
of their data.
If scientists (perhaps especially male scientists) share the
bias that males are uniquely suited for leadership then their
interpretations of their data will reflect that bias.
Before we turn to the impact of these beliefs on women in
politics and business, let’s look at a few examples of such bias in
studies of our non-human primate ancestors, especially chimpanzees
and bonobos.
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Chimpanzees
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Chimpanzees have been studied for over 40 years in the
wild. We know a lot about their patriarchy and about their patterns of
warfare.
In order to enter the adult male dominance hierarchy, male
chimpanzees have to first dominate all females in the group.
Among chimps, infanticide occurs, only males hunt and eat
meat, and males resort to dominance displays and aggression to resolve
conflict.
In many ways our male stereotype reflects the dominant
features of male chimps behavior.
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Bonobos
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In contrast, bonobos are relatively less well studied and
understood than the chimpanzee. Yet Bonobos are as genetically
similar to humans as are the more familiar chimpanzees.
One big difference between these two non-human primate
species is that bonobos live in matriarchal societies, whereas chimps
live in patriarchical groups.
In bonobos, males maintain their relationships with their
mothers throughout their lives. They never assert dominance over
them. We know that the son’s rank is dependent on it’s mother’s rank,
and not the other way around.
In addition, bonobos are much more peaceful, social, and
sexual than are chimps.
In contrast to the chimps, among bonobos there is female
dominance, infanticide does not occur, male and females hunt and eat
meat, and sex is used to resolve conflict.
These relatively new revelations about bonobo behavior
have not been readily accepted by many primatologists.
The contrast between these two primates points to the
importance of situation factions in shaping dominance and leadership
behavior.
8
“Not everybody’s
comfortable with the idea
that arguably our last
common ancestor might
have been matriarchal,
maybe sort of aggressive
towards males”
Amy Parish, Ph.D., University of
Southern California biologist and
scientific advisor to the Bonobo
Conservation Initiative
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So “unnatural” is male deferent behavior, that Bonobo males
have been called “henpecked” and “mama’s boys.”
Clearly, in our culture, anything but male dominance tends
to be treated as evidence of dysfunction.
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Female power is very contrary
to our understanding of the
natural order of things.
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There are many examples of the ways researchers have
“spun” the story of bonobo male deference to females.
Some of Parish’s colleagues refuse to accept the pattern of
female dominance.
They call it “strategic male deference,” meaning that, of
course, males could be in charge if they wanted to, but for strategic
reasons, like having more sex, they’re stepping back and letting females
have the upper hand.
Interestingly, when they see instances of male dominance,
they never say “obviously the females could be dominant if they wanted
to, but for strategic reasons they’re stepping back.”
In one scientific publication, the male deferent behavior was
described as “male chivalry” - not at all an empirical term for a scientific
paper.
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“It’s not chivalry, it’s just that
females have the upper hand”
Dr. Amy Parish
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Here is a clear example in which male aggression toward
females is considered natural, whereas female aggression towards
males is not.
When males attack females, as is the case with the chimps,
nothing seems out of the ordinary.
However, when females attack males, zoo keepers and
others feel strongly that something must be done.
In a story shared by Dr. Parish, one zoo keeper decided to
give a time-out to a particular female bonobo who was frequently prone
to attacking males.
The idea was to teach her not to engage in such unnatural
behavior.
No such behavior modification was ever contemplated when
male chimpanzees attacked females.
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Power Games
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By ignoring the lessons learned from our primate ancestors, we all too
often conflate gender and power and ignore the role of situation in shaping male
and female leadership behavior.
Because men tend to hold most positions of power in this society, it is
easy to conclude that there must be something about being male – whether it is
genes, brain structures, or hormones – that is key to leadership.
In the face of such seemingly compelling evidence, it is hard to
appreciate the role of the situation in shaping leadership behavior.
Yet there is compelling evidence that the situation, not gender, is the
determining factor.
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Domains of leadership
1. Politics
2. Business
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Women in Politics
Woman audacious enough to seek political power
are routinely dogged by gender-specific coverage
that focuses on their looks, fashion sense, familial
relationships and other feminizing details that have
nothing to do with their expertise.
Pozner, J. L. (2005, November 8). Commander in chic. Tom Paine Common Sense Retrieved
November 29, 2005, from http://www.tompaine.com/print/commander_in_chic.php
4th Annual Iowa Women’s Leadership Summit
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Here are a few examples.
This is how the Associated Press in a lengthy profile
informed readers about Harriet Miers, George Bush’s first nominee to fill
Sandra Day O’Connor’s seat on the Supreme Court.
Often via quotes from relatives and colleagues, the article
gives us such important information as:
14
Media Description of Harriet Miers
• Likes to play tennis, run, and take in
a movie
• Not somebody who is a gossip
• Always remembers everybody’s
birthday
• Her royal blue suit shined with a
brooch her mother gave her
• Workaholic
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It is noteworthy, that such information was not shared about
Sam Alito, Bush’s second nominee to the same Supreme Court seat.
15
If the media doesn’t focus on
candidates’ positions and on the
issues but only on their looks, it is
easy to dismiss them as credible
leaders.
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Condoleezza Rice
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On the day Condoleezza Rice became America’s first
African-American female national security advisor, a long, front page
New York Times story reported that
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• Her dress size is between a 6 and an 8
• Gushes Southern charm
• Captivating – without ever appearing
confessional or vulnerable
• She has a girlish laugh
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In the same profile, we learn that she is always impeccably
dressed, usually in a classic suit with a modest hemline and she prefers
comfortable pumps and conservative jewelry.
Only near the end of the long article, do we learn something
about her experiences and positions on national security.
18
The mind searches for ways to put it all
into context. It turns to fiction, to
caricature. To shadowy daydreams.
Dominatrix! It is as though sex and power
can only co-exist in a fantasy. When a
woman combines them in the real world,
stubborn stereotypes have her power
devolving into a form that is purely sexual.
Givhan, R. (2005, February 25). Condoleezza Rice's Commanding Clothes. Washington Post,
4th Annual Iowa Women’s Leadership Summit
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The issue is not that these are the only details the media
shares with us about these powerful women, it is that such details are
ONLY discussed in reference to such women.
We are never told what size shoes or suits our male leaders
wear. We are never told about the sentimental value of our male
leaders’ cuff links or wrist watch.
These tidbits are saved for females and reflect a highly
gendered media treatment of women in leadership positions.
19
Elizabeth Dole
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It’s constructive to recall the candidacy of Elizabeth Dole,
arguably one of the most qualified contenders for President. The media
treated her as a light weight.
Her treatment by the press is remarkably similar to the
treatment of women candidates who followed her.
Despite her enviable credentials – Phi Beta Kappa graduate
from Duke University, graduate of the Harvard Law School, former labor
secretary in the Regan cabinet, former Secretary of transportation in the
first President Bush’s cabinet, head of the Red Cross, high name
recognition – she was portrayed as:
20
• Over-ambitious, tailoring her ideology to the
need to advance her career
• Chilly, nasty, “syrupy” Southern accent
• Pearl chokers and color-coordinated outfit
• Too feminine
• Rehearsed, scripted, robotic, controlled, frozen,
a “Stepford wife”
• Speaking style was dubbed “Tammy Faye Baker
meets the Home Shopping Network”
• Speculation about her sex life and her hairdo
4th Annual Iowa Women’s Leadership Summit
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The media focus was on her “first woman” status, not on the
seasoned, political operative that she was.
In the pre-primary days of 1999, John McCain was
presented as a “presidential hopeful” while Liddy Dole was mentioned in
terms of her presumed inability to raise money.
Of course this became a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more
the press says you can’t raise money, the more you can’t raise money.
As was true of other powerful women in politics, the media
focused on her personality.
21
Media Marginalization
This sort of media marginalization reinforces
the regressive notion that women are more
emotional, less knowledgeable, less
qualified to lead – and, by proxy, less
electable – than their male counterparts.
Pozner, J. L. (2005, November 8). Commander in chic. Tom Paine Common Sense Retrieved
November 29, 2005, from http://www.tompaine.com/print/commander_in_chic.php
4th Annual Iowa Women’s Leadership Summit
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Despite this treatment two recent polls show overwhelming
support for female politicians among the general public: between 79 and
81 percent of Americans say they would feel comfortable with a female
president, and similar numbers believe a woman would handle
homeland security and foreign policy issues as well as or better than a
male president.
22
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23
Politics 2008
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Hillary Clinton is certainly one of the ablest candidates –
male or female – that has entered the presidential race.
25
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4th Annual Iowa Women’s Leadership Summit
26
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4th Annual Iowa Women’s Leadership Summit
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28
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4th Annual Iowa Women’s Leadership Summit
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4th Annual Iowa Women’s Leadership Summit
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4th Annual Iowa Women’s Leadership Summit
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In my LexisNexis search using the parameters Hillary
Clinton and Cleavage, I came up with over 3,000 stories written in the
past year.
While the press has certainly covered Hillary’s positions on
important policy issues, she has been subjected to the kind of personal
scrutiny that male candidates just don’t get.
There was no media feeding frenzy over Fred Thompson’s
wrinkles or John McCain’s age.
There was no flap over McCain’s incessant use of the
phrase “my friends.”
But Hillary’s every sound and feature is fair game for the
press.
This bias about women’s inability to lead is reflected in an
obsession over their personal failures.
32
4th Annual Iowa Women’s Leadership Summit
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This is how the New York Times reported the story of the fall
of 3 women: Jane Swift, lieutenant governor of Massachusetts; Carol
Wallace, former editor of People magazine; and Rosie O’Donnell, taping
her last talk show in May 2002.
Notice the bolded tag line “some say women have less
psychic investment in careers.” Interestingly, we are never told who the
“some” is.
Let’s focus on Jane Swift, former governor of
Massachusetts.
Alex Kuczynski, They Conquered, They Left, New York Times, March 24, 2002, Late Edition - Final,
Section 9, Page 1, Column 1.
33
Swift
4th Annual Iowa Jane
Women’s
Leadership Summit
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Governor of Massachusetts
Research shows that there is far more media attention to
the personal situation of women in public life than there is of men.
Arguably Jane Swift wins the prize for having endured the most
relentless scrutiny of her family life. Why?
She was the first person to run for state-wide election while
pregnant and the first elected Lieutenant Governor to give birth (to twin
daughters) while in office.
Journalists and other media types had a field day hashing
and rehashing the pros and cons of women’s combining work and
family life.
34
Headlines read:
Campaigning for Office on the Mommy Track
The Year of the Stork
An Announcement: Candidate has Baby;
Massachusetts Delivers
A Mommy Track Derails, Mama’s Delicate
Condition
Jane Swift: Motherhood in the
Massachusetts Governor’s Office.
4th Annual Iowa Women’s Leadership Summit
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Almost without exception, every reference to her in the
media began with the fact that she “was the first governor to give birth
while in office” or that she “recently gave birth to twins.”
For example, an article recounting her record in office and
announcing her decision to run for Governor, began with the following
sentence: “Acting Gov. Jane M. Swift, who made history as the first
governor to give birth while in office, said today that she would run for
governor of Massachusetts in 2002.”
One would think that no previous governor had ever taken
any time away from work for health or any other reason. In fact, there is
plenty of evidence to the contrary.
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2001, the governor of Rhode Island was laid up at home for
more than a month, recovering from surgery for prostate
cancer. No one demanded he surrender his powers.
Ronald Reagan recuperated from a gunshot wound while
president.
Dwight Eisenhower suffered a heart attack, a bout with ileitis,
and a minor stroke.
Moreover, these two were men with their fingers on the proverbial button.
Swift’s predecessor, Governor Paul Cellucci underwent heart
surgery while in office.
Cellucci’s predecessor, Bill Weld, was often criticized for
spending lots of time away from work. In Weld’s words, ”Getting
to be governor is the hardest part, I used to go on vacation for a
week at a time and I wouldn’t even call in.”
As one journalist asked: ”Who knows how many male governors
have children, or who
takes care of them?”
4th Annual Iowa Women’s Leadership Summit
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™
On the surface the clamor was about whether she could
perform her official duties while also taking some time for pregnancyrelated medical issues.
36
What was the real situation?
4th Annual Iowa Women’s Leadership Summit
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Was she really rejecting her family to selfishly pursue her
career? Not at all. Swift’s husband had long before decided to support
her political ambitions by quitting his job and caring for their children.
As she put it when she decided to run for Governor in 2002,
“When you decide to have children, adults then arrange their lives
around them, and that's what we've done.”
Only those who have never read a single article indicating
that men can be as nurturing to children as women could honestly claim
that the couple’s young children were at risk
37
”Does anybody know why they are
following me?”
One boy ventured the answer,
”Because they want to know what you
stand for?”
An amused Swift responded, “I only
wish that were true. It’s because I am
pregnant and all of these guys think
that it’s a great big deal.”
4th Annual Iowa Women’s Leadership Summit
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Her wishes and ambitions notwithstanding, Swift decided
not to run in 2002 after all; she bowed to Republican pressure to make
way for the candidacy of Mitt Romney, who was considered a far
stronger and much better-financed candidate.
Unfortunately, her personal life created such a stir, that her
many political challenges, successes, and failures, were completely
overshadowed.
She was well aware of her situation. As lieutenant governor,
she was asked to talk to an audience of elementary-school students
about her career in politics. After a few minutes, she pointed to the army
of journalists, reporters, and TV-cameramen surrounding the auditorium
and asked the fourth- and fifth-graders,
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Lessons Learned
She “could not successfully
juggle the increasing — and
often competing —duties of
gubernatorial candidate, chief
executive, and mother”.
4th Annual Iowa Women’s Leadership Summit
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Swift was actually well-qualified for a high-level leadership
role in politics, having served as a state senator, an executive with the
Massachusetts Port Authority, and as the commonwealth’s consumer
affairs secretary before being elected lieutenant governor in 1998. She
became acting governor in 2001, when Governor Paul Cellucci became
the U. S. ambassador to Canada.
At thirty-eight, she was the youngest governor in the
nation’s history.
Her qualifications were never as publicized as her personal
life, in fact, whatever her failings, she will be remembered most for the
disastrous results of her daring violation of deeply held views about the
proper role of women.
In her emotional address announcing her decision to drop
out of the governor’s race, she did what was expected, saying that she
“could not successfully juggle the increasing —and often competing —
duties of gubernatorial candidate, chief executive, and mother”. No one
will ever know whether she could have successfully juggled the roles of
wife, mother, and governor; the stranglehold of the natural order was
too tight.
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Female Heads of State
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With all the talk about whether women can be commanderin-chief, you would never know that many women are now and have in
the recent past been leaders of many countries.
Gumucio, R. (2005, December 9). Senora presidente? New York Times, p. 37.
40
In the 1970s
Sirimavo Bandaranaike
Indira Gandhi
Golda Meir
4th Annual Iowa Women’s Leadership Summit
Elisabeth Domitien
Isabel Peron
Simone Weil
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Margaret Thatcher
These women held their countries' highest elective offices by 1970.
• Sirimavo Bandaranaike was prime minister of Ceylon (now Sri
Lanka) from 1960 to 1965 and from 1970 to 1977.
• Indira Gandhi was prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and
from 1980 until her assassination in 1984.
• Golda Meir was prime minister of Israel from 1969 to 1974.
• The first woman head of state in the Americas was Juan Peron's
widow, Isabel, president of Argentina in 1974-76.
• Elisabeth Domitien was premier of the Central African Republic in
1975-76.
• Margaret Thatcher, who first became prime minister of Great Britain
in 1979, was the only person in the 20th century to be reelected to
that office for a third consecutive term.
• Also in 1979, Simone Weil of France became the first president of
the European Parliament.
41
In the 1980s
Vigdis Finnbogadottir
Milka Planinc
Gro Harlem Brundtland
Corazon Aquino
Benazir Bhutto
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In the 1980s, a woman was elected
• president of Iceland, Vigdis Finnbogadottir,
• prime minister of Norway, Gro Harlem Brundtland,
• premier of Yugoslavia, Milka Planinc,
• president of the Philippines, Corazon Aquino, and
• prime minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto, the first woman to head
a Muslim nation.
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In the 1990s
Mary Robinson
Violeta Chamorro
Carmen Lawrence
Hanna Suchocka
Rita Johnston
Edith
Cresson
Khaleda
ZiaIowa Women’s
4th Annual
Leadership Summit
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In the 1990s, a woman was elected
• president of Ireland, Mary Robinson.
• president of Nicaragua, Violeta Chamorro,
• Australia's first female premier was Carmen Lawrence of Western Australia
(1990)
• Rita Johnston of British Columbia (1991)
• In 1991 Khaleda Zia became the prime minister of Bangladesh
• Socialist Edith Cresson was named France's first female premier
• Poland's first female prime minister, Hanna Suchocka, was elected in 1992.
43
In the 2000s
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
Liberia
Angela Merkel
Germany
Michelle Bachelet
ChileLeadership Summit
4th Annual Iowa Women’s
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In recent months
• Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was the first elected female president of
Liberia and the first woman to be elected head of state of any
African Country.
• Angela Merkel was the first woman elected as Chancellor of
Germany.
• Michele Bachelet was elected president of Chile and the first
woman to be elected head of state of any South American
country.
44
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•
•
•
•
•
2001-Executive President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, The Philippines
1997-President Mary McAleese, Ireland
2001-Governor General Dame Silvia Cartwright, New Zealand
1997-Hon. Dr. Dame C Perlette Louisy, St. Lucia
1966-The Maori Queen Kuini Te Ata-i Rangi-Kaahu Koroki Te Rata Mahuta Tawhiao Potatau, New
Zealand
•
1999-President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Latvia
•
2004-President of the General Council Nassimah Magnolia Dindar, Reunion (French Oversea’s
Territory
•
2004-Governor Deborah Barnes Jones, Montserrat (British External Territory
•
2005-Prime Minister Maria do Carmo Silveira, Sao Tome e Principe
•
2005- President of the Sameting/Sámediggi Aili Keskitalo in Norway
•
1994-President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumarantunga, Sri Lanka
•
1999-Prime Minister Hon. Helen Clark, New Zealand
•
2005- Governor-General Michaëlle Jean, Canada
•
2001-Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh
•
2004-Prime Minister Luisa Dias Diogo, Mocambique
•
1980-H.M. Beatrix, By the Grace of God, Queen of Netherlands
•
2004-President of the Government Marie-Noelle Themereau, Nouvelle Caledonie (French Oversea’s
Territory)
•
2001-High Commissioner Birgit Kleis, The Faeroe Islands (Danish External Territory)
•
2000-President Tarja Halonen, Finland
•
2003-High Commissioner Hon. Sandra Rose Te Hakamatua Lee, Niue (Free Association with New
Zealand)
•
1952-H.M. Elizabeth II of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Her other Realms
and Territories
•
1972-H.M. Margrethe II, by the Grace of God, Denmark’s Queen
•
2001-Governor General Dr. Dame Ivy Leona Dumont, The Commonwealth of the Bahamas
•
2005-President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberia
•
2005-Defense Minister Michelle Bachelet may be first female president
•
2005-Angela Merkel first woman elected to be Chancellor of Germany.
These women served as heads of state over the past 50-60 years.
45
Business
Growing numbers of
women in management,
but not at the highest
levels.
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We see similar media treatment of women’s ability to lead in
business. Here, two themes are omnipresent:
46
1. Women don’t want powerful careers
2. Women who have obtained power,
drop out
4th Annual Iowa Women’s Leadership Summit
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Perhaps best known story supposedly about women not wanting power,
is the Brenda Barnes’ story.
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Brenda Barnes
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Barnes spent 22 years at PepsiCo before being named
president and CEO at PepsiCola North America in 1996.
She quit in 1998 to be with her family. When she quit, the
business world was abuzz, one of corporate America’s highest-ranking
women, said she was quitting because she couldn’t do her job and raise
her children.
Her resignation renewed the debate over work-family
conflicts.
Some women feared Ms. Barnes’ quitting confirmed
damaging stereotypes that women can’t be good executives and good
parents.
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• May have made the choice of a new
generation: personal interests over
professional ones.
• The news sent shockwaves through
company boardrooms.
• Companies may be forced to change their
corporate cultures.
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“This may be the tip of the iceberg,” said Brad Shrader, a
work-family expert from Iowa State University.
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Brenda Barnes
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The story that Barnes couldn’t handle work and family was
undermined by the facts. After leaving Pepsi, Barnes kept in touch with the
corporate world.
She remained on the boards of several major corporations and in
2005, she became chief executive officer of Sara Lee.
Sara Lee is a huge Fortune 500 company with operations in 58
countries; it markets products in nearly 200 nations. The Company employs
approximately 137,000 employees worldwide. Its products and services
include fresh and frozen baked goods, processed meats, coffee and tea,
intimate apparel, leg wear and other apparel, and personal, household and
shoe care products. In 2007, its revenue was 12.3 billion dollars.
In sharp contrast, Barnes’ husband, who had been on his own
fast track, resigned at about the same time she did. He had been treasurer of
PepsiCo.
What was his reason for resigning? To spend the summer with
his kids.
Not surprisingly, his resignation was barely noticed by the media.
There was no firestorm of reaction about men’s inability to combine a highpowered career with family life.
Men who leave office are never seen as trend setters.
Heglund, R. (1997, December 21). The family track; opting for a richer home life over a high-powered
career. Buffalo News, p. 1F.
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Prominent Men Who Have
Left Their Jobs
• Secretary of Labor Robert Reich
• Talk Show Host Phil Donahue
• Governor Paul Cellucci
• House Speaker Newt Gingrich
• Senators Fred Thompson, Phil Gramm
• Representative Joe Scarborough
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Men who leave never spark a national discussion about
work-family conflict. Men’s commitment to work is never called into
question.
51
Patricia Russo
Chairman, Chief Executive,
Lucent Technologies
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The story of Patricia Russo is another case in point. Russo,
rated by Fortune Magazine as the thirteenth most powerful woman in
the world in 2005, was chairman and chief executive officer of Lucent
Technologies.
She now heads the new telecommunications giant formed
by the merger of Lucent and Alcatel. This company will be one of the
largest in the world and largest in the world in terms of revenues (over
$25 billion) run by a woman.
In 2006, Russo was rated the most powerful women in the
world.
The day the merger was announced, numerous stories
described Russo’s stellar accomplishments during her 20-year career at
Lucent.
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No mention was made of the
obvious -women can clearly lead
successfully in highly
competitive business
environments.
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Of course, unlike, the response that would have occurred if
she had failed, no gender generalizations were made.
One can only hope that the next time a prominent business
woman fails, the media will resist the temptation to ascribe her failure to
her gender.
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-Patricia Sellers, Power: Do
women really want it.
Fortune, October 13, 2003.
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Amazingly, the title for a 2003 Fortune Magazine cover
celebrating the 50 most powerful women in America is:
Power: Do women really want it.
Can you possibly imagine a Fortune Magazine cover story
on the 50 most powerful men in America with the same subtitle?
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Research data on women
and leadership
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According to a 2003 study by Catalyst,
women today cite the same barriers to
senior leadership levels as women did
way back in 1966:
•
•
•
•
lack of managerial experience
exclusion from informal networks
stereotyping
preconceptions of women’s roles and
abilities
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Why are women making such slow progress up the corporate ladder?
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Many theories:
• women are channeled into HR positions
and have little profit and loss or line
responsibilities that are critical for
advancement
• persistent discrimination – often hard to
quantify
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Maybe women don’t have what it
takes for leadership:
• Hormones
• Brains
• Motivation
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Common to each of these three theories is that the problem
is deemed to lie with the women themselves; it has nothing to do with
discrimination –subtle or not-so-subtle
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One way out of the paradox is
to see women who succeed
as “unfeminine”.
• unlikable
• aggressive
• intimidating
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Research studies:
1. In general, studies conducted with
samples of college students tend to show
that men are given higher ratings than
women in leadership abilities.
Ratings in these cases, not surprisingly,
reflect gender stereotypes
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2. When the study participants are
employees who have had actual
experience working for male and female
managers, the findings are very different,
In comparisons of men and women leaders
in organizational settings, few gender
differences in leadership abilities or style
emerge.
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Sharpe, R. (2000, November 20). As leaders, women rule: New studies
find that female managers outshine their male counterparts in almost
every measure. BusinessWeek, 75-84.
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By and large, several studies show
that women executives, when rated
by peers, subordinates, and bosses,
score higher than their male
counterparts on a wide variety of
measures including:
• producing high-quality work
• goal setting
• mentoring employees
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Using elaborate performance
evaluations of executives,
researchers found that women
got higher ratings than men on
almost every skill measured.
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Although the gender differences
were small and sometimes men
earned higher marks than
women, “overall, female
executives were judged more
effective than their male peers.”
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In one study of the 425 high-level executives evaluated,
each by about 25 people, women execs won higher ratings on 42 of 52
skills.
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“Women are scoring higher on
almost every thing we look at”
according to an industrial
psychologist who led a major
study.
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WHERE FEMALE EXECS DO BETTER: A SCORECARD
None of the studies set out to find gender differences. They stumbled on them
while compiling and analyzing performance evaluations.
SKILL (Each X denotes which group
scored higher on the respective studies)
MEN
EQUAL
XXXXX
MOTIVATING OTHERS
FOSTERING COMMUNICATION
X*
PRODUCING HIGH-QUALITY WORK
STRATEGIC PLANNING
XXX
XXXXX
XX
X*
LISTENING TO OTHERS
ANALYZING ISSUES
WOMEN
X
XXXXX
XX
X*
X
*In one study, women's and men's scores in these categories were statistically even
Sharpe, R. (2000, November 20). As leaders, women rule: New studies find that female managers outshine their
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male counterparts in almost every measure. Business Week, 75-84.
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If women are so great, why
aren’t there more of them
running major companies?
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Let’s take a look at some intriguing research results that
may provide some answers to this important question.
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Are there conditions at work under
which women are given less credit
for the success they achieve when
they work jointly on tasks with
male colleagues?
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This study is especially relevant today given the recent
surge in the use of work teams in virtually every industry and in the
emphasis placed on the importance of teams for successful
organizational functioning.
It is also important for understanding women’s success in
organizations because it is highly likely that when teams are formed
female employees are more likely to find themselves working with other
males than with other females.
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How do evaluators assign
responsibility for work products
produced by teams?
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Men are perceived stereotypically
as agentic, possessing traits such
as:
•
•
•
•
•
ambition
confidence
self-sufficiency
dominance, and
assertiveness
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Women, in contrast, are
considered to be communal,
possessing traits such as:
•
•
•
•
•
kindness
helpfulness
concern for others
warmth, and
gentleness
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These gender stereotypes are
pervasive, and they affect evaluative
behavior, especially when situations
are ambiguous.
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Evaluators’ dilemma:
Imagine that they are confronted by
an outstanding work product completed
by a team comprised of women and
men.
The quality of the work product is
consistent with their expectations for the
men, but inconsistent with their
expectations for the women.
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What are they to do?
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One way to maintain their gender stereotypes is to call into
question the extent to which the women are actually responsible for the
excellent work product.
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If they give more credit for the
product’s excellence to the men than
the women, they maintain their gender
stereotypes.
But the women get less credit for
high-quality outcomes and thus their
work competence is belittled and their
task effectiveness devalued as
compared to the men with whom they
are working.
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To test this hypothesis, the researchers designed an
experiment in which men and women worked together on a male sextyped task.
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The team produced a joint product known
to be of a very high quality, and the
evaluators rated the team members in
terms of:
• competence
• degree of influence on the task
• leadership behavior
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The feedback was framed either in terms of each team
members’ task performance or in terms of the groups’ task
performance.
The researchers reasoned that evaluators, especially when
evaluating women, would be affected by the kind of feedback they
received about the dyad’s task performance.
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Group-level feedback creates
ambiguity about each
member’s contribution.
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As noted above, when there is ambiguity, gender
stereotypes tend to emerge.
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9
8
Competence
7
6
8.13
8.22
%
&
5
4
7.29
%
5.64
&
3
2
1
0
Individual Feedback
Group Feedback
%
&
4th Annual
Iowawhere
Women’s
Summit rationalization of women's
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Heilman, M. E., & Haynes, M. C. (2005).
No credit
creditLeadership
is due: Attributional
success in male-female teams. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(5), 905-916.
When evaluators were provided with individual performance
information there was no significant difference in competence ratings of
male and female employees.
When evaluators were provided with group-level
information, the female employee was rated as significantly less
competent than the male employee.
Note that women were rated as less competent when the
performance information was for the group and not for the individual,
whereas the type of performance information made no significant
difference for men.
80
10
Leadership
9
8
7
7.20
6
5
%
6.40
6.13
&
%
4.73
&
4
Individual Feedback
Group Feedback
%
&
4th Annual
Iowawhere
Women’s
Summit rationalization of women's
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Heilman, M. E., & Haynes, M. C. (2005).
No credit
creditLeadership
is due: Attributional
success in male-female teams. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(5), 905-916.
Women were thought to have taken the leadership role less than men
in the group information condition, but not in the individual information condition.
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Whenever it was possible to
attribute responsibility to men,
it was so attributed.
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“Unless there was clarity about
individual contribution to the successful
group outcome, thereby precluding the
attribution of responsibility for success
to the male team member, women were
once again rated as being less
competent and as having been less
influential and less likely to take the
leadership role than were men”. (p. 911)
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Here we see one way that gender stereotypes can affect
women's’ performance evaluations and ultimately their chances for
advancement.
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Male and female evaluators did
not differ in their ratings of any
of the three measures.
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Implications of the Study
1. Don’t assume that every evaluation you receive is a
direct reflection of your competence.
2. Remember that gender stereotypes make it easy for
managers to “see” women subordinates as
stereotypical members of their sex and not as
individuals.
3. Be alert to the possibility that your managers may
not have complete information about your
contributions.
4. Be sure to make your contributions, past and
present, fully known to your peers and supervisors.
5. If you feel that a male co-worker is getting more
than his fair share of the credit for joint work, speak
up.
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Overall Conclusions
• Clearly women have what it takes to be effective
leaders.
• The playing field for women in politics and
business is uneven. Gender stereotypes expose
women’s success to more scrutiny than men’s.
• It is crucial to remember and to teach the next
generation of men and women that women have
held and currently hold the highest positions of
power and leadership.
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Same Difference
Rosalind Barnett
and
Caryl Rivers
www.same-diff.com
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™
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