One
of the many things that women have historically struggled with and continue to
struggle with
is rising to positions of power and consequently being taken seriously as
leaders. Although times are changing, positions of leadership continue to be
dominated by men. We have either been denied these position (glass ceiling),
promoted to these positions to be a scapegoat (glass escalator), treated as
being invisible, or simply not acknowledged as being worthy of the position. This
struggle is compounded for women with intersectional identities where layers of
oppression are added to the identity of being a woman. Following suit with most
social inequalities, this problematic condition has nothing to do with abilities
and qualifications women bring in and everything to do with the prevailing
mindset that dominates in societies across most parts of the world.
With
the current epidemic of not taking women seriously, including allegations of
sexual
assault, it is
no surprise that women are expected to invest more time and energy thinking
about how they will be perceived and what they need to do in order to be
considered a leader. Whether it is academia, higher administration, or
corporate work, women are sometimes expected to play the stereotype of a warm,
peace loving, motherly leader. At other times, women are expected to play the
role of an assertive and dominating leader. Rest assured there will be
criticism irrespective of which stereotype women leaders are held to.
Insubordination due to prevalent sexist attitudes is rarely factored in when
evaluating women leaders.
Research
shows that people prefer masculine leaders during times of war and feminine
leaders during
peacetime (Van Vugt & Grabo, 2015). Although touted as being evolutionary
in nature, this is a problematic discourse as it expects leaders, particularly
female leaders, to behave a certain ‘right’ way. A deviation from this norm
brings backlash. One of the pieces of feedback I recently heard from a female leader
I admire is that women have to work twice as hard as men to be even considered
for positions of leaderships. This is a narrative all too familiar for many of
us. The problem with this narrative is that it disregards the notion of
equality and systemic oppression by making hard work seem like the ticket to
success.
As
a counseling psychology graduate student and a firm believer in advocacy
efforts, I not
only admire
asking questions and bringing problems to the forefront but also hold myself
responsible to brainstorming solutions to problems and seeking answers that are
not readily available. In thinking about navigating some of the challenges that
women in leadership face today, it might be helpful to consider the following
few approaches:
1.
Changing
the way we view leadership
The
current and popular notion of leadership is based on Western ethnocentric values
of control, assertiveness, dominance, and aggressiveness. This notion is
inherently sexist in nature, in additional to lacking a cultural framework. An
alternative way of understanding leadership is through the lens of Eastern Daoist
teachings that align more closely with feminist theories (Lee, Haught, Chen,
& Chan; 2013). Lee, Haught, Chen, and Chan (2013) talk about ‘water-like
leadership style’ as an alternative to the Western leadership approach. Water-like
leadership is an Eastern leadership style that encourages leaders to be
altruistic, modest, transparent, flexible, and persistent. This leadership
style is called water-like leadership because the leader tries to be like
water. A good leader according to this leadership style is a leader for the
people, democratic, collaborative, humble, and grounded (Lee, Haught, Chen, &
Chan; 2013). Water like leadership style is just one theory that offers an
explanation of leadership that moves beyond traditional theories. Thus, by altering
our conceptualization of what effective leadership should look like, we might
be successful in minimizing the masculine standards which are often used as
yardsticks for evaluation.
2.
Connecting with feminist mentors
The
power of mentorship cannot be overemphasized. It is significant to have role
models that we can resonate with and who are sensitive to the challenges we
face. Seeking out these role models, developing connections, and building a
community of women who support one another is a way to buffer some of the
exhaustion that can accompany women as they climb the leadership ladder.
3.
Emphasizing systemic barriers
When
speaking about leadership, talent and capability are often highlighted. In
common discourse, we hear people speaking about charisma, assertiveness,
aptitude, and hard work. As much as these things matter, we need to move away
from the premise that a ‘leader is born’ towards the idea that a ‘leader is
made.’ However, we need to be mindful that we do not perpetuate the myth that
hard work can allow everyone the opportunity to success. It’s high time that
systemic barriers are highlighted and spoken about. It is time that we talk
about the invisibility of women and their opinions in high stakes decisions.
The focus needs to shift from “training” leaders to identifying systemic
barriers that hinder women leaders from pursuing these positions in the first
place.
4.
Talking about privilege and oppression
in higher level positions
A
feminist multicultural stance in workplace is not optional but imperative today.
We need to facilitate more honest conversations about what we expect from our
leaders and how our biases might affect those expectations. Psychology as a
discipline today is more aware about feminist issues and the goal is therefore
to promote these issues and causes beyond our discipline. Collaborations and
outreach are an excellent way of achieving that.
Many
young women are led to believe that they are not good enough, made to question their
self-efficacy
and their ability to be good leaders. The aim of writing this article is to
elucidate the process of oppression in leadership. My hope is that with
promotion of a more feminist and strengths based approach coupled with
identification of systemic barriers we can change the narrative around
leadership and hopefully shift the dominant societal view.
Written by Urvi Paralkar, M.A.
References:
Lee, Y-T.,
Haught, H, Chen, K. & Chan, X. (2013). Examining Daoist Big-Five leadership
in
cross-cultural
and gender perspectives. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 4(4),
267-276.
Van Vugt, M,
& Grabo, A. E. (2017). The many faces of leadership: An evolutionary-psychology
approach.
Current Directions in Psychological Science, 24(6), 484-489.
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