Busting the Myth That Women Aren't As Ambitious As Men
Link to article: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2011/11/28/busting-the-myth-that-women-arent-as-ambitious-as-men/
This article serves as an extension of the thought introduced in class pertaining to women in the workforce. As women continue to join the corporate world, I am curious as to why there are very few female CEOs leading large firms. This is the 21st century and it appears that women have not completely broken through the glass ceiling. On the contrary, I am not sure if women have even cracked it. One of the ideas proposed to scarce female leadership is attributed to women lacking as much ambition as the male counterpart. I am not completely convinced that women lack ambition but they certainly could face different trade-offs for being driven professionally as compared to men. This article highlights some of the costs for ambitious women as well as the connotations of "ambition" when applied to women and men.
I would like to believe that the reason that women are not achieving leadership positions is due to male-dominance and complete gender bias from men. That would be easy. Unfortunately I have witnessed just as many women, occasionally more, perpetuate gender bias in the work force than men. In effect, women are not always supportive of other ambitious women in the corporate environment. Also, the application of the term ambition has very different connotations when associated towards men than with women. This relates to the idea highlighted in Alison Jaggar's article Love and Knowledge: Emotion in Feminist Epistemology where male-dominance is so deeply ingrained within society that women and men have perpetuated it. The article states that "...Success and likability are positively correlated in men, and negatively correlated in women" (Forbes). Perhaps this may be partly responsible for women shying away from achieving top positions. The more successful women are, their likability among peers declines. Many women that hold top executive positions have made great sacrifices which may include "...lacking an intimate partner [and/or] children..." (Forbes). In effect, ambitious career-driven women can reach the top but it's often lonely up there.
The article closes by suggesting possible solutions to solving this problem such as redefining gender roles and societies' acceptance of successful women (Forbes). Currently women are still expected to care for children while men are pushed to become successful in their careers and support their families financially.
I agree with the author of this article when they suggest that lacking a sense of ambition is women's problem. I think that women have just as much ambition as men if not more. However the fact that they are women hurts their ability to act on this ambition. I believe that women are placed on a stricter microscope comparatively to their male counterpart. Due to the fact it's against the norm for women to hold high leadership positions I think you would often see that women have to focus more on doing everything perfect and by the book as opposed to men who can take big risks and make mistakes and not get reprimanded for them. It's not that women lack ambition, I think it's just the fear of acting on this ambition.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Leslie when she suggests that women perpetuate gender biases towards one another. Due to the fact that you don't have that many women in top positions, I believe that this creates somewhat of a competition between women. Every woman is trying to outdo the next woman and have gender bias towards them instead of seeing that they are all in the same boat; the fact that they are women is a struggle in its own. Women need to come together as one instead of competing against one another and spew that competition towards their male counterparts.
I agree with Leslie here and it reminds me of a recent management fellow lecture that I attended. One of the main points that our speaker tried to hit home was that you should/need to be as ambitious as possible when you are working, and you want to make other people aware of your ambition. When he first said that I considered it a no brainer--If you want to move up in the world you need to show that you have the drive and desire to do so. However, once we got into this discussion about women and ambition I feel as though he may be wrong. He said that if you cannot be ambitious in your work environment then you should find another job. According to the discussions that we have had, I think that many women would have to leave their jobs because of the social norms in the work place. Women are not seen as people that move up quickly, and a women that portrays ambitious attributes may very well end up being a negative for her. Ultimately, I agree that ambition is a trait that each one of us should posses, it is just more difficult for women to portray it. I also agree with Leslie when she commented that perhaps some of the problem is with women themselves. If there is ever going to be a change in gender roles, women need to be able to support other women in whatever it is that they may want to do or accomplish.
ReplyDeleteI certainly agree that there is a different perception of women in the workplace, especially depending on what particular career they are involved in. These biases seem especially dependent on the number of women in the field or the specific workplace; the fewer there are, the stronger the bias. This is probably because the fewer working women someone has come into contact with, the easier it is to make generalizations about all of them. There may be a positive side to this, however, since that would mean that as more women get involved in a career, or become successful at it, the more it will be considered 'normal' for them to work and thrive in that field. My mom seems to be a good example of this. When she first joined her accounting firm, there was only one other female employee there. Now she is one of its owners, and female workers there are much more common, including ones in prominent positions.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the biggest reasons why the myth still exists can be explained by looking at how society defines feminine and masculine character traits and equates them to certain gender roles. Furthermore, I think that before we can expect gender equalities we have to begin placing more focus on actually describing how social power actually functions. In this case, society has to first recognize that there exists an unequal balance of power in the workplace which place women at a disadvantage because men are given certain unearned privileges. Privileges which most men likely do not even realize! This is why emphasis must be placed on showing dominant groups that there exists an unequal power due to an unfair advantage given them by certain societal norms. Society has an unfair power structure in the workplace because it all stems back to our society’s characterization of feminine and masculine traits (see Lehmann’s piece, specifically section on p152-154 in The Ethical Life). It can be argued that this is why many people in our society view an assertive and ambitious woman as “bitchy” while an assertive and ambitious man as a leader. This could also explain why many times, women decide not to act on their ambitions.
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