Introduction
Male domination in management worldwide is a common phenomenon while women continue to experience barriers in their endeavor to succeed in workplaces. Traditionally, in most societies male dominated high levels in decision making, and even after the introduction of policies of equal opportunities in most countries around the world, women still occupy lower positions in their profession (Vinnicombe, 2008).
One of the reasons contributing to this trend include negative attitudes and perceptions associated abilities of women at work. Traits of effective leadership have been demonstrated by men, and traits presented by women at workplace are viewed as not fit for a leader or a person who can handle high positions (Blossfeld, 2008).
This condition, which has been created in workplaces has made people to view women as weak and ineffective leaders, and some women have chosen to imitate men traits for them to succeed in their workplaces. This paper will explore the question “must women present men characteristics to succeed?
Women who have adopted male characteristics have had challenges; these challenges are coping with workmates who are both female and male. Also this women find it hard adjusting all the time; from male characteristics to women characteristics and vice versa, and for those who adopt male characteristics completely have find if difficult coping with life as women (Wirth, 2001).
Hindrances to the success of women
Occupational sex segregation has contributed to the success of women in professional jobs. Cultural as well as social attitudes towards female and male job have created discrimination in education and training; there are jobs which according to the culture of some communities are not meant for women (Burke and Mattis, 2005).
This has made women not to pursue their dreams in the profession they like and therefore, men have been given all the opportunities professional jobs.
There has been a change where women have been allowed to take up positions in professional jobs that were considered to be for men, however, there are still other challenges that hinder them from succeeding in these professional jobs.
Women have not yet acquired academic qualification required in professional jobs; this is because of discrimination that was there in education and training (Wirth, 2001). The discrimination left most women with no skills to secure them a position in professional jobs.
Also women still have no confidence that they can take up positions in high management. Men are known to be more confidence when compared to women and this can be seen in their conversation (Barret and Davidson, 2006).
Men will interrupt other men or women to ask a question or make a point; they will do this even if the man or woman is in a higher position than him. Women present fear, particularly when the people they are conversing with are in higher positions and appear powerful than them, and men use this weakness to make sure that women are not in control of the conversation (Eckert and McConnell-Ginet, 2003.
Women do not like interruption with an aim of showing sensitivity, affiliation and attraction to other people’s needs. This attitude presents women as people with no power and control, and therefore, they are not trusted with positions in top management.
Women’s family responsibility is also among the factors hindering them from progressing in their professionals. Females have a natural responsibility given to them by God; they carry pregnancy to a 9-month term and during this period, especially towards the end of pregnancy term they require a maternal leave.
This issue has created a hindrance to their success at work; mostly, the top management positions requires full time dedication, and if women will need a brake every now and then, then the organization will suffer the loss of bringing in a new manager to take up her position before she returns from the maternity leave.
Women are also faced with the responsibility of rearing children and doing household work; these responsibilities occupy their mind all the time, and this reduces their concentration at work and hence affects their performance.
This makes them not suitable for top management positions, which requires a sober and more attentive mind to make decisions. Sometimes they are hire house helpers who help then with the household chore, however, this is only physical; the woman still has emotional responsibility to the family (Eagly and Carli, 2003).
Top management positions requires much of one’s time, and sometimes people in such positions go for business trip abroad; this might be a bother for women with young children, this is because children always need emotional support and guidance from their mother.
Men also have emotional responsibility to the family but they are always assisted by women. Family responsibilities make women to be less suitable for top management position; therefore, they are always given position in the bottom level management (Davidson and Burke, 2004).
This leaves women wondering whether to take up positions occupied by men in the society for them to be successful, however, what about the challenges and consequences that accompanies the change.
Challenges of adopting male characteristics
It is evident that there is a difference in the way women and men communicate and this shows that communication is powerful in an organization, and therefore, the speech patterns presents their powerlessness and that of male shows power (Burke and Mattis, 2005. Women in workplaces are encouraged to change their behavior to that presented by their male counterparts; this might be useful to their success (Wirth, 2001).
However, this change might turn out to be a hindrance to the success of women, depending on the working environment. Women sometimes change their behavior to that of their male counterparts, but they later regret doing so because of the negative reaction they get from the fellow women or men around them.
For instance, a woman who is speaks loudly with much power is seen to dominate the other people, but her dominance may not be perceived in the same way as that presented by her men counterparts (Burke and Mattis, 2005). Most people will perceive it negatively; they would consider the lady as a dictator and therefore, not fit to be in the top management and this denies her an opportunity to succeed.
The feminine nature of women is something that is natural, and changing their characteristics to that of their male counterparts would not be easy, and sometimes it might mean pretending, and as we know pretence does not last forever.
For those who pretend to take over male characteristics might be chosen to those high position, but as time goes they drop their pretence and become natural, and in an organization which values those male characteristics would quickly notice the change (Burke and Mattis, 2005). This will lead to the loss of her job or demotion.
There are some women who manage to change their characteristics completely to those of masculine nature, and manage to achieve success in their professions. However, women with masculine characters will experience problems in their social life; they find it difficult socializing with the fellow women because they always want to dominate them in every aspect (Burke and Mattis, 2005).
Also, in the society, it is natural for women to behave in a feminine manner and men to behave in a masculine manner, and women who have taken up male characteristics might affect the way other people view them (Wirth, 2001).
This might affect them psychologically, and it might affect their performance at workplace, and at the end, the change of character to that of men will not be useful (Burke and Mattis, 2005). A person who is not performing is never useful to the organization.
When women adopt men characteristics to succeed in their profession, the characteristics might affect the other side of their life, particularly, in the family.
When women are at home, they should behave like women and do what women should do, however, women who have adopted male characteristics might see things differently (Vinnicombe and Bank, 2003).
They might extend their dominance at work to their husbands at home, and their sensitivity might also reduce and this might affect both children and the husband. This issue might destabilize many families and children might not be raised well.
Shift to gender-less leadership
Organizations should not put so much pressure on women, to an extent that they choose to change their feminine characteristics to masculine characteristics for them to succeed. Organizations should consider expanding their scope and diversity to accommodate women.
Each organization has a goal of excelling and attaining high performance for them to survive and compete in the business world; however, they cannot achieve high performance with only men in management (Smith, 2000).
They should be flexible enough and maximize all the resources available to them; organizations that take their female employees for granted and fail to reward them through promotions are out to lose a lot.
First, they will miss out on the exclusive leadership provided by female, secondly, the female employees might get tired of the discrimination and leave the organization, and this will leave the organization to look for other employees (Ozbiligin, 2010).
Organizations should understand that men and women lead differently, and research shows that women are far much better than men in various areas, for instance, they produce high-quality work, have good mentoring ability and they are experts when it comes to setting goals.
This attributes, according to some researchers, make women suitable for leadership, however, there is a small number of women who are in leadership (Fielden and Davidson, 2010). Organizations should not push women to adopt men characteristics; they should instead confront and change by destroying roots of gender bias in their offices and departments.
Organizations should fight the notion that gender makes good leaders, the real issue about leadership is that leadership is a skill, which people can learn; and therefore, anyone irrespective of gender can learn and apply this skills (Engen et al, 2009).
Organizations should understand that no one is born a leader; a leader is made through guidance and personal experience, therefore, being born a male does not make one a leader and being born a woman does not mean that one cannot lead.
Females are not born failures, and their hard work should be rewarded by giving them a chance to move up in their careers (Davidson and Burke, 2004). Again, women in leadership already possess characteristics that men have and these characters are suitable for higher level management.
These characters include analytical and being action oriented; however, the same women still maintain their strong feminine behaviors as well as values, which include being holistic, collaboration and nurturing. Such leaders are effectiveness in their work when compared to those who have adopted hyper-masculine leadership styles.
In genderless leadership, leaders’ traits are defined without a thought or consideration of whether one is a male or a female. These traits include speaking and paradoxical ways; a person with this character is constant tough but empathic, collaborative and competitive, candid and diplomatic, patient and timely, flexible and orderly (Carter and Silva, 2010).
The leader is also a community builder, who brings people together and also believes that the power they have should be shared. Holistic thinkers are people who build trust among the people they are leading; such leaders focus more on the future and not the present.
Lastly, genderless leaders have a trait of relational intelligence; they adhere to high ethical standards and believe in integrity (Carter and Silva, 2010). These traits define someone that is fit to occupy top management position and lead others, and yet they are not connected or influenced by male characteristics.
Conclusion
Women are naturally different from men and this means that their communication style and way of leadership is also different. Therefore, women should not leave their feminine characteristics and adopt male characteristics; as seen in the discussion this move might affect their roles as women in the society and also affect their performance at work because of the image they would create.
Women should also not adopt male characteristics for them to succeed because leadership traits are not defined by the gender; these leadership traits include holistic thinker, community building, relational intelligence, and speaking and paradoxical ways (Davidson and Burke, 2004).
This means that anyone with these characteristics should be given a chance to occupy high positions in management.
Women should understand that the issue of using male characteristics to gauge one’s ability to lead others is a notion that has no basis and it is the responsibility of each organization to change the notion and eliminate it completely from the organizational culture. Therefore, women should push for the change and prepare to wait because it will not happen overnight.
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