Many scholars would argue that managerial work is infused with an irreducible 'masculine ethics'. What does it mean? Do you agree with the view that management is a gendered practice? Why is this a problem?
Many scholars would argue that managerial work is infused with an irreducible ‘masculine ethics’. What does it mean? Do you agree with the view that management is a gendered practice? Why is this a problem?
In this essay I will examine the meaning of “masculine ethics”, their influence on managerial work and everyday life. Furthermore I will analyse the thesis that management is a gendered practice and then draw/point out possible solutions to this problem.
Management is still said to be discriminating against women. This is based on the assumption that it is infused with an irreducible “masculine ethics”, which means that masculine instincts and a dominance of the male sex rule this area of working life. It emphasises a system of rules which formalise the notion of obligation. Many women still suffer from segregation in their workplace and find it hard to break through the so called “glass ceiling”. This glass ceiling is an invisible artificial barrier to positions of management, created by prejudiced attitudes and behaviour. It is fact, that less than 5% of the top jobs in corporations are held by women.
And whenever women manage to rise to the top there is mostly still a difference in the level of payment.
Let us take a closer look at possible reasons for this.
It already starts in families where the mother mostly stays at home to raise the children and do the cooking and the father as the head of the family earns the money. This picture of the father being the breadwinner and the mother being a housewife is something we see in everyday life and therefore may adapt subconsciously as a child. Education is another critical point to look at, regarding gender diversity. Most management textbooks use examples of men, like Everard, K.B. and Morris, G.(“Effective School Management”, Harper and Row, London 1990) who refer to managers as “he” throughout the entire book, which may have a “detrimental educational effect” on women. I have to admit that I personally tend to think of a manager as a man, rather than a woman. A powerful man in a suite is a typical picture of a manager. It is the same with secretaries. Who would think of a man when hearing the word secretary? So there is a highly gendered nature of management practice and education. To develop this argument further let me name another personnel example: An all-girls school! I made the experience that some male teachers at mixed schools tend to disregard girls at times, whereas others may pay special attention on them, e.g. in sciences. At an all-girls school girls do not face male rivals and are somehow “protected”. At work there is no such thing like a female section. Women have to prove themselves amongst male colleges all the time. In general this works quite well but when taking a closer look we discover that women are typically placed in non-strategic sectors such as personnel and administrative positions which are said to require little skilled workers. This typical placement may be due to the fact that women and men appear to define leadership differently. Female managers, for example, tend to apply “soft management” whereas male managers generally tend to apply “hard management”. That is to say, if a woman achieves a high-level managerial position she is often restricted to a less vital area like Human Resource Management. From personal experience I can say that there are quite a number of women in managerial positions but when it comes to the board of directors it is mostly men. This again proves the glass-ceiling theory, a barrier which separates top-level management and professional jobs. I believe that it is not only prejudices against women as the “weaker sex” but also the problem of the family responsibility women have. A manager might not want to give a woman a leading position because he fears she might drop out because of pregnancy. Unless a woman totally devotes herself to her job and leads a childless life there will almost always be problems managing family and career. Especially as long working hours seem to be required to gain recognition and eventual promotion. “Part-time managers are a rare breed and yet it seems virtually impossible to reconcile long hours with the demands of running a home and caring for children”, (World of Work, No. 23, 1998).
