Why More Women Don’t Lead and Innovate - Transforming Your STEM Career Through Leadership and Innovation - page 36

CULTURAL CAREER PERCEPTION ISSUES
Most of us have heard of the glass ceiling, the invisible barrier to career advance-
ment for many women. Evidence of some type of barrier can find support in
the statistics. Specifically, although women constitute almost half of the Ameri-
can workforce and hold over 50% of the management and professional posi-
tions, they make up a mere 2% of the Fortune 500 CEOs [1] . The situation is
even more dire for Women of Color, where in 2005 only 5% of all managers,
professionals, and related occupations were African American women; Latina
women constituted 3.3% and Asian women 2.6% [2] . In Europe, the numbers
are a bit different but show a similar pattern. In 2005, women represented 44%
of the workforce, 30% of the managerial positions, and 3% of the company
CEOs [1] . For the numbers to be consistent across nations suggests that there
are strong cultural norms at work in these environments. Could it be possible
that something as simple as cultural “stereotyping” is standing in the way of the
development and advancement of women in these environments?
Stereotypes 101
Stereotypes can be defined as cognitive shortcuts or generalizations that we use to
make sense of our complex social world. Gender stereotypes are widely shared within
cultures and this can be problematic as the nature of stereotyping is to over-simplify
reality. Gender stereotypes emphasize “natural differences” between women and men.
However, the empirical literature suggests that gender differences are far from natural.
Extensive research has shown that women and men are actually more similar than dif-
ferent and that there is more variation within women's leadership styles than there is
between women and men. By creating false perceptions that women and men are “plan-
ets apart”, stereotyping, however, results in women being overlooked for the top jobs -
no matter how strong their actual credentials.
Source: Catalyst, 2007
Research indicates that this is in fact what's happening. In the study “Women
'Take Care,' Men 'Take Charge'” [3] researchers surveyed 296 corporate leaders,
34% of whom were CEOs, and asked them to rate how effective men and women are
at different essential leadership behaviors. Likewise, in “Different Cultures, Similar
Perceptions: Stereotyping of Western European Business Leaders,” researchers ana-
lyzed the responses of 935 leaders from 10 different countries, 42% of whom were
top management [4] . Both of these studies found patterns of stereotypic judgments
by men and women that limited their perceptions of women as effective leaders.
These perceptions inhibit women's advancement because the “taking charge” skills
and stereotypically masculine behaviors, such as assertiveness and competitiveness,
are often seen as absent from women, yet they are prerequisites for leadership. The
key here is to recognize when you are being stereotyped and confront it. It is equally
important that we do not stereotype and recognize how our generalizations may be
impacting the success of our career as well as those of other women.