A511.8.3RB – Gender
MSLD 511: Organizational Leadership
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Worldwide: Online Campus
December 9, 2015
How Far Apart Are We Really From Each Other?
History: the Role of Women
Projecting all guilt upon women, branding them as lustful allies of the Devil who wean men from God and lead them from the path of virtue, the Genesis story enshrines the myth of feminine evil as a justification for female oppression. The history of Western men's attitudes to women is a history of woman-hatred, often with terrifying consequences" (Kitzinger, 1990).
This virulent loathing of women's bodies continued during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the West: any expression of sexual desire by women was considered filthy, corrupt, sinful and marked them as whores, the daughters of Eve" (Kitzinger, 1990).
Upper- and middle-class Victorian men relied on working-class female prostitutes to satisfy their sexual appetites, while demanding the purity of their wives and inflicting upon them the impossibly sentimentalized and saintly ideal of the Virgin Mother" (Kitzinger, 1990).
Middle-class women and girls who expressed sexual feelings were often diagnosed as 'morally insane' and imprisoned in mental asylums. Others were 'cured' through sexual surgery, including clitoridectomy or 'female circumcision', which doctors first practiced on indigent American women and black female slaves" (Kitzinger, 1990).
These same physicians continued a long tradition of viewing menstruation as dirty and dangerous, 'the curse' inflicted upon women because of Eve's sin. The new professions of gynecology and psychology denounced women's bodies and minds as seriously defective, and used 'scientific' discoveries to justify excluding women from higher education and from political life" (Kitzinger, 1990).
Women in the Workforce: Cheap Labor, Threats & EEOC
"When Alexander Hamilton wrote his Report on Manufacturers in 1791, seeking ways to develop industry in the United States, he identified women and children as a source of cheap labor. Later, in the 1820s, the textile mills of New England, most notably those in Lowell, Massachusetts, hired young women from the surrounding farms as workers, viewing them as more tractable than men and more willing to earn less, since presumably they would stop working once they married" (Leckie, 2015).
"To make matters worse for female laborers, working men often saw them as threats to their status, especially as new machines permitted less skilled operatives to perform tasks formerly assigned to craftsmen. Thus, it is not surprising that as men attempted to unionize in order to combat declining pay and status, their leaders often ignored female workers" (Leckie, 2015).
"After the Civil War, which saw the deaths of more than 600,000 men and the maiming of countless others, it became necessary for women to enter the work force in increasing numbers. The profile of the female wage earner was changing as the percentage of married women in the work force, increasing since the 1920s, actually rose during the thirties by more than 25 percent. The participation by the United States in World War II accelerated this change. Six million new women workers entered the labor force and took heavy industry jobs formerly available only to men. The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 led to the creation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)" (Leckie, 2015).
Safety and Opportunities: For Women
Projecting all guilt upon women, branding them as lustful allies of the Devil who wean men from God and lead them from the path of virtue, the Genesis story enshrines the myth of feminine evil as a justification for female oppression. The history of Western men's attitudes to women is a history of woman-hatred, often with terrifying consequences" (Kitzinger, 1990).
This virulent loathing of women's bodies continued during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the West: any expression of sexual desire by women was considered filthy, corrupt, sinful and marked them as whores, the daughters of Eve" (Kitzinger, 1990).
Upper- and middle-class Victorian men relied on working-class female prostitutes to satisfy their sexual appetites, while demanding the purity of their wives and inflicting upon them the impossibly sentimentalized and saintly ideal of the Virgin Mother" (Kitzinger, 1990).
Middle-class women and girls who expressed sexual feelings were often diagnosed as 'morally insane' and imprisoned in mental asylums. Others were 'cured' through sexual surgery, including clitoridectomy or 'female circumcision', which doctors first practiced on indigent American women and black female slaves" (Kitzinger, 1990).
These same physicians continued a long tradition of viewing menstruation as dirty and dangerous, 'the curse' inflicted upon women because of Eve's sin. The new professions of gynecology and psychology denounced women's bodies and minds as seriously defective, and used 'scientific' discoveries to justify excluding women from higher education and from political life" (Kitzinger, 1990).
Women in the Workforce: Cheap Labor, Threats & EEOC
"When Alexander Hamilton wrote his Report on Manufacturers in 1791, seeking ways to develop industry in the United States, he identified women and children as a source of cheap labor. Later, in the 1820s, the textile mills of New England, most notably those in Lowell, Massachusetts, hired young women from the surrounding farms as workers, viewing them as more tractable than men and more willing to earn less, since presumably they would stop working once they married" (Leckie, 2015).
"To make matters worse for female laborers, working men often saw them as threats to their status, especially as new machines permitted less skilled operatives to perform tasks formerly assigned to craftsmen. Thus, it is not surprising that as men attempted to unionize in order to combat declining pay and status, their leaders often ignored female workers" (Leckie, 2015).
"After the Civil War, which saw the deaths of more than 600,000 men and the maiming of countless others, it became necessary for women to enter the work force in increasing numbers. The profile of the female wage earner was changing as the percentage of married women in the work force, increasing since the 1920s, actually rose during the thirties by more than 25 percent. The participation by the United States in World War II accelerated this change. Six million new women workers entered the labor force and took heavy industry jobs formerly available only to men. The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 led to the creation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)" (Leckie, 2015).
Safety and Opportunities: For Women
"All women deserve a life with the opportunity to be educated, to work, to be healthy and to participate in all aspects of public life. For women and girls to fully participate in their communities and enjoy their rights, they need a life free from gender-based discrimination- a life with the opportunity to be educated, to work safe jobs with adequate and equal pay, to be healthy, and to participate in all aspects of public life. However, women are frequently subjected to gender norms that limit their opportunities, defining them as mothers, caregivers, or homemakers. Not only do these assignations limit women's choices, opportunities to seek education or a career, or ability to be decision-makers in their communities, they also put women at risk of poverty, ill-health, and violence" (Amnesty International, 2015).
The Government Regulated Workplace: For Women
"Sex discrimination involves treating someone (an applicant or employee) unfavorably because of that person's sex. Sex discrimination also can involve treating someone less favorably because of his or her connection with an organization or group that is generally associated with people of a certain sex. The law forbids discrimination when it comes to any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, fringe benefits, and any other term or condition of employment. It is unlawful to harass a person because of that person's sex. Harassment can include "sexual harassment" or unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature. Harassment does not have to be of a sexual nature, however, and can include offensive remarks about a person's sex" (EEOC, 2015).
Although the law doesn't prohibit simple teasing, offhand comments, or isolated incidents that are not very serious, harassment is illegal when it is so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment or when it results in an adverse employment decision. The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or someone who is not an employee of the employer, such as a client or customer" (EEOC, 2015).
The Government Regulated Workplace: For Women
"Sex discrimination involves treating someone (an applicant or employee) unfavorably because of that person's sex. Sex discrimination also can involve treating someone less favorably because of his or her connection with an organization or group that is generally associated with people of a certain sex. The law forbids discrimination when it comes to any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, fringe benefits, and any other term or condition of employment. It is unlawful to harass a person because of that person's sex. Harassment can include "sexual harassment" or unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature. Harassment does not have to be of a sexual nature, however, and can include offensive remarks about a person's sex" (EEOC, 2015).
Although the law doesn't prohibit simple teasing, offhand comments, or isolated incidents that are not very serious, harassment is illegal when it is so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment or when it results in an adverse employment decision. The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or someone who is not an employee of the employer, such as a client or customer" (EEOC, 2015).
Pay Gap: Women vs. Men
"The gender pay gap persists, because women were more likely to say they had taken career interruptions to care for their family. And research has shown that these types of interruptions can have an impact on long-term earnings. Roughly four-in-ten mothers say they have taken a significant amount of time off from work (39%) or reduced their work hours (42%) to care for a child or other family member. Roughly a quarter (27%) say they have quit work altogether to take care of these familial responsibilities" (Patten, 2015).
My Truth: As a Woman in the Workforce
I am a woman. I have been in the American workforce for twenty years. After graduating college, I was immediately placed in a management position in corporate America, where I never experienced any sort of gender bias, pay gap or issues. A few years after joining corporate America, I decided to take a leave of absence to pursue my personal hobby of triathlons, while attempting to make a career out of it. Working 13 years in the professional cycling arena, I filmed male professional cycling races on motorcycle; was the first woman in the history of cycling races to ride in the male peloton; I hired developers and graphic designers to help me create a dynamic, interactive website for professional cyclists, and; eventually based on the niche needed in the industry, founded a media company that had exclusivity of media rights to every bicycle race in America.
Though I was a female in a male dominated industry, I never felt as though there were any hesitations in business negotiations regarding my gender. It also seemed that I was even paid a little higher than most of my male counterparts. I do believe that contributing factors may have been because I am single and am without family, free of familial responsibilities that might impact absence or travel obligations. I have always been a hardworking and driven individual, qualities that may have additionally contributed to the respect and sense of gender-equality I experienced in the workplace.
The gender glass ceiling has been defined as being, "the strong tendency to favor men over women in filling high-level leadership positions. With the reasonings being, lack of opportunity to gain experience and visibility in types of positions that would facilitate advancement, higher standards of performance for women than for men, exclusion of women from informal networks that aid advancement, lack of encouragement and opportunity for developmental activities, lack of opportunity for effective mentoring, lack of strong efforts to gain access to leadership positions, difficulties created by competing family demands, lack of strong action by top management to ensure equal opportunity, bias to select and promote individuals who are similar to the male managers who make the decision, and intentional efforts by some men to retain control of the most powerful positions for themselves" (Yukl, 2013).
Though I was a female in a male dominated industry, I never felt as though there were any hesitations in business negotiations regarding my gender. It also seemed that I was even paid a little higher than most of my male counterparts. I do believe that contributing factors may have been because I am single and am without family, free of familial responsibilities that might impact absence or travel obligations. I have always been a hardworking and driven individual, qualities that may have additionally contributed to the respect and sense of gender-equality I experienced in the workplace.
The gender glass ceiling has been defined as being, "the strong tendency to favor men over women in filling high-level leadership positions. With the reasonings being, lack of opportunity to gain experience and visibility in types of positions that would facilitate advancement, higher standards of performance for women than for men, exclusion of women from informal networks that aid advancement, lack of encouragement and opportunity for developmental activities, lack of opportunity for effective mentoring, lack of strong efforts to gain access to leadership positions, difficulties created by competing family demands, lack of strong action by top management to ensure equal opportunity, bias to select and promote individuals who are similar to the male managers who make the decision, and intentional efforts by some men to retain control of the most powerful positions for themselves" (Yukl, 2013).
References:
Amnesty International. (2015). Demand Equality. Amnesty USA. Retrieved from http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/women-s-rights/gender-based-discrimination
EEOC. (2015). Sex-Based Discrimination. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Retrieved from http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/sex.cfm
Kitzinger, Celia. (1990). Why Men Hate Women. New Internationalist: Issue 212. Retrieved from http://newint.org/features/1990/10/05/hate/
Leckie, Shirley. (2015). Labor Unions: Women in the Workplace - A History. The Labor Site. Retrieved from http://www.thelaborsite.com/women1.cfm
Patten, Eileen. (2015). On Equal Pay Day, Key Facts About the Gender Pay Gap. FactTank. Retrieved from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/04/14/on-equal-pay-day-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-gender-pay-gap/
Yukl, G. (2013). Leadership in organizations (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
EEOC. (2015). Sex-Based Discrimination. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Retrieved from http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/sex.cfm
Kitzinger, Celia. (1990). Why Men Hate Women. New Internationalist: Issue 212. Retrieved from http://newint.org/features/1990/10/05/hate/
Leckie, Shirley. (2015). Labor Unions: Women in the Workplace - A History. The Labor Site. Retrieved from http://www.thelaborsite.com/women1.cfm
Patten, Eileen. (2015). On Equal Pay Day, Key Facts About the Gender Pay Gap. FactTank. Retrieved from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/04/14/on-equal-pay-day-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-gender-pay-gap/
Yukl, G. (2013). Leadership in organizations (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
