“In today's business environment there still remains the
belief that women are not as capable as men when it comes to handle the duties
and pressures of top management positions” (Williams, H. E. 2014) When you
think about women in the workplace or let alone think about women in leadership
roles and compare them to men, women are at that same pinnacle of “whatever men
can do, women can do as well”.
Dr. Kanter’s position on women not being able to what men do
in high decision making roles because of the nature of the job, and the issue
of dedication on time and work. (Harvard Business Review 2010). In relation to
Yukl I believe what he discusses on gender-discrimination does not coincide with
each other. Kanter brings up points where women now are sitting in legislative
roles, and the shift to where women have broken barriers in today’s world and
are able to hold these types of positions. As Yukl discusses that there are still low
numbers of women holding key leadership roles in the workplace. “men and women
who are holding managerial positions in equal numbers in some industries;
nevertheless, women still face gender discrimination even though they have been
proven to be just as qualified, if not more qualified than their male
counterparts” (Williams, H. E. 2014)
Today, women are now allowed to join combat arms in the
military. With no prejudice to allowing them to join. Two women just past the
covenant Ranger school for the Army, we even have women in today’s age running
for President and a few years back running for Vice President. Which shows (in
relation to Dr. Kanter’s position) that women are able to function in those
leadership roles, despite having the stereotype of being empathetic, possessing
intuition, and being more sensitive (Yukl, 2013). So Dr. Kanter has a point when she discussed
about women achieving such heights especially in the leadership realm, however
still surrounded by scrutiny and not being able to recognized, almost as if the
male gender is in denial and turns their heads away not wanting to recognize
it.
“Worldwide, countries recognize the economic importance of
women in senior positions. In China, women hold 51 percent of senior leadership
positions, 31 percent in Russia, and 30 percent in Turkey. North America rests
at 21 percent.3 The United States is not well positioned to take advantage of
top talent” (Row, S., P.E. 2013) which goes back to what I discussed earlier
that women in relation to what Dr. Katner’s discussion was about is that they
are slowly catching up to men holding these positions, however maybe not
recognized or there is a failure to recognize it in America, but in today’s
world times have shifted from the old
way of women who were known to be “stay-at-home wives” have now shifted to
world and organizational leaders.
Row, S., P.E. (2013). Women (and men) in leadership roles:
Building a new yellow-brick road. Institute of Transportation Engineers.ITE
Journal, 83(8), 32-34. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/1426796467?accountid=27
Williams, H. E. (2014). Men and women in leadership
positions in the public sector: Who are the best-qualified candidates?
Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics, 11(3), 36-48. Retrieved
from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/1647069621?accountid=27203
Yukl, G. A. (2013). Leadership in organizations-8th ed.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
