Must women adopt male characteristics in order to succeed?

University Degree Business and Administrative studies

KATYA VARBANOVA – 200730017

Must Women Adopt Male Characteristics In Order To Succeed?

This essay is will address the question of whether women must adopt male characteristics in order to succeed or not. Firstly, it will define what success actually is and demonstrate what the reality is for women. Secondly, it will argue for and against the adoption of male characteristics by analysing and comparing various studies, criticism and results.

What do women need to do in order to succeed? Do they have to behave in a specific manner in order to be taken seriously? The evidence shows that women have recently been advanced to senior positions in large organisations (Wirth, 2001). However, they are still underrepresented in positions of authority within the public world of work compared to their male counterparts (White et al, 1992). Does that mean masculine style is what organisations are looking for in their leaders, and is it possible for a woman, displaying her ‘female traits’, to reach the top?

What is success?

In order to decide objectively what success is, we must first define what it means to ourselves as individuals, families and organisations. People are different. Their priorities are not the same. For example, the American world-renown motivational speaker Zig Zaglar says that ‘’success is only real when it encompasses every area of life – physical, mental, relationships, career and finances’’ (Casey, 2008). In other words, true success requires balance between all these areas. In fact, we get closer and closer to real success as we fulfil more and more of our life purpose (A Successful Woman, 2010; Maslow, 1943). However society’s measurement of achievements is money, power, and financial independence (Gideon, 2006). For this reason, this essay will focus on career success for women, and it will crucially examine whether they must adopt male characteristics in order to meet society’s perception of ‘’success’’.

What is the reality for women in the workforce?

Findings have shown that in any given occupation, the higher the rank, the lower the proportion of women within that role (White and Cooper, 1997). Women serving on FTSE 100 company boards represent only 12.5% (Cranfield University School of Management, 2010). In Australia, women also comprise 12.5% of board directors on ASX 200 Companies (McIntyre, 2011). Norway is the European country with the greatest number of female directors, having 35.6% women serving on boards (Governance Metrics International, 2011). This is still less than half the amount in comparison with men in executive positions. Why is that the case? Is it because management has been stereotyped as a male domain or is it because women are less capable? Are women more successful when they play like men so they are familiar with the rules of the game (Stead, 1985)? Does this necessarily mean that they must adopt male characteristics in order to be promoted?

Arguments and evidence that women must adopt male characteristics in order to succeed

There have been many studies which have proven that women must adopt at least some male characteristics in order to be successful in their careers. As Rendell (1980) pointed out “where women are - power is not”. This sounds very sceptical and a little bit extreme but we shall see that it has been proven to be realistic to some extent. As Mann (1995) revealed, women gain easily employment at the lowest level but they struggle getting promoted to middle, upper or senior positions. Therefore, women are not attaining the same level of achievement in their careers as their male counterparts. In fact, one particular research indicates that female managers have to outperform their male counterparts in order to be perceives as successful (Swiss, 1996). Why is that the case?

This is a preview of the whole essay

One reason, according to Brunner (1998), was that there remains a cultural stereotype in that men are more able to work with money or business than women. Many countries, like Egypt, have traditionally perceived work to be a male activity associated with the provider and bread winner role (Burke and El-Kot, 2011). Women, on the other hand, have been seen as responsible for family and home, and this is why they represented only 23% of the total work force in Egypt (Ramzy, 2002). Another reason is that there is still a stereotype that managers are expected to be competitive, aggressive, and firm. Essentially, they are expected to have characteristics associated with male behaviour (McGregor, 1967). Contrary to that, Carli (2001) goes further to prove that relative to men, women are less influential when using the same aggressive form of communication that men normally use as part of their nature. That paradox makes it questionable whether it is possible for a woman, displaying male traits, to be taken seriously and be respected as a manager.

According to Claire Pomeroy (2004), if women want to be taken as serious workers, they need to ‘’dress in a masculine manner, avoid mentioning their children and never leave work earlier due to family responsibilities’’. Moreover, in order to achieve and maintain high social status, professional women have to have emotional detachment (Academy of Management, 2007). Contrary to that, the stereotypical image of women generates a perception of emotional sensitivity. Therefore, women often have no other choice, except to find some balance between their public life (e.g. career) and private life (e.g. family and children), whilst ensuring neither conflicts. As a result, Pomeroy (2004) concludes that, ‘’ if women do not adopt a masculine style, it becomes increasingly difficult for them to succeed’’.

Another interesting argument has been recently suggested, namely that ‘’masculine’’ women who know when to be 'feminine' at work get more promotions. In other words, ‘’women who are able to turn on and turn off these masculine traits were more likely able to succeed’’. In fact, the results proved that these women received one and a half more promotions than ‘’masculine’’ men and twice as many promotions as ‘’feminine’’ men (Kim, 2011). Therefore, researchers do not suggest that females should avoid behaving according to their gender stereotypes. They just have to be flexible enough in any situation and therefore, display androgynous sex role beliefs (Bem, 1974). If they do not adopt male characteristics at all, is it still possible for them to advance to senior positions?

Arguments and evidence that women do not need to adopt male characteristics in order to succeed

On one hand, there is much evidence that suggests that women must adopt male characteristics in order to succeed. Conversely, numerous studies have argued the opposite - that being a ‘masculine’ woman is the wrong strategy to reach the boardroom. In fact, as one woman stated ‘’Women who act like men: it does not work’’ (Academy of Management, 2007). Why is that so?

One of the biggest criticism of masculine women is that they are exposed to the so called ‘’backlash effect’’ (Science Daily, 2011). The term has been defined as social and economic reprisal for behaving counterstereotypically (Rudman, L.A., 1998). According to descriptive gender stereotypes, women are expected to show greater warmth and nurturance than men are, whereas men are expected to show higher levels of aggressiveness and competitiveness (Eagly & Johannesen-Shmidt, 1991). Researchers have proven that women who display male characteristics are often judged negatively and held back professionally, and consequently women with feminine attitude may be more successful (Baedeker, 2011).

For example, we can compare two female finalists of The Apprentice UK – a reality TV show in which young businessmen and women compete for an apprenticeship with the British business magnate Lord Sugar (Wikipedia, 2011). Series one runner-up Saira Khan – was criticised for being loud and forceful. Although she reached the final, her behaviour did not help her to win the job with Lord Sugar (The Apprentice UK, 2005). In contrast, the winner of series two - Michelle Dewberry - having the completely opposite behaviour – says in an interview that ‘’people do not need to be loud and cocky and ‘’bolshie’’ – they just need to work as hard as they can, and hopefully they will get on in life’’ (BBC News, 2006). Demonstrably, there are occasions when being feminine might be more beneficial than being masculine.

Not only have masculine women been criticised and judged negatively, but also feminine women have been proven to be more effective. There is evidence to suggest that leaders displaying emotional and social intelligence are more likely to be outstanding performers and female leaders have been rated higher than men in this respect (Hopkins and Bilimoria, 2008). Another study of women and men at the organisational executive levels revealed that women outperform men in twenty-eight of thirty-one skill areas. Therefore, women have been proven to behave similarly but more effectively than their male colleagues (Perrault and Irwin, 1996). As a result, some organisations are willing to take further measures to have more females on the boardroom.

Recently, there have been very optimistic results published by the Office for National Statistics suggesting that the ‘’glass ceiling’’ – the main obstacle for women’s success - is cracking up (Doughty, 2011). Companies and governments have been taking serious measures in order to increase participation of women in their boardrooms (Wintour, The Guardian, 2011). These measures are necessary because recent findings suggested that companies with more women in senior level positions are more profitable than those with males only on the executive level (Wolfe, 2009). As a result, a lot of countries have introduced, or will introduce, gender diversity regulations, and many companies are willing to adopt them.

For example, organisations such as PriceWaterhouse Coopers and Deloitte have announced a new development programme, as part of the UK recommendations - in which they aim to have 25% women on their senior positions by 2015(Singh, Accountancy Age, 2011). Another example, is in the European Commission, which has proposed legislation requiring 30% rate of women by 2015, expanding to 40% by 2020 (Pop, EU Observer, 2011). The Malaysian Cabinet introduced legislation for corporate companies where they must achieve 30% representation of women in top-level posts by 2016 (Chooi, The Malaysian Insider, 2011). Equally, Belgian law on gender diversity requires minimum one third of directors to be female (KPMG, 2011). Clearly, not only organisations believe they need feminine leadership style, but they are also taking further steps in order to achieve that gender diversity.

Conclusion

Years ago, it has been suggested that women have to be masculine, in order to have the same accomplishments as their male counterparts. Indeed, we have established that leadership has been stereotyped as a male domain. However, the most recent studies proved that women do not need to adopt male characteristics in order to succeed. Instead, if they possess some male traits, these might be beneficial, as long as they know how to monitor and control them. Otherwise, women exhibiting too much ‘masculinity’ in the workplace are certainly facing the ’’backlash effect’’. Therefore, we can conclude that gender specific discrimination is not holding women back from the executive positions. It is perhaps the career-role itself that is shaping the individual to act in a particular way to reach a particular goal. This is by no means exclusive to women; men must equally commit to their career goals. As one female director of a large public limited company put it ‘’It takes total commitment and a willingness to make a lot of sacrifices, particularly in your personal life’’ (Paton, 2006). Evidently there are opportunities for females to succeed, which are not contingent upon the adoption of male characteristics.

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