Female Leaders Stereotyping: A Case Study of the Arab World - Research Paper Example

Female Leaders Stereotyping: A Case Study of the Arab World Azhar Ali Mohammed Gaarer Middle Tennessee Term paper Thomas Li-Ping Tang, Ph.D. Professor of Management Date Table of Contents Abstract 3 1 Introduction    4 2 A review of related literature 5 2.1 Traditional gender bias in domestic labor in the Arab countries: 5 2.2 The stereotyped notion that men are innately better leaders than women: 7 2.3 Discrimination in the workplace between the men and the women in the Middle East:  10 2.4 Indicators of changes for the rights of Arab women and their entry into the business sectors: 11 3 Conclusion 13 References 15 Abstract There has been a longstanding disagreement amongst the researchers, social activists and politicians regarding the role of Arab women as leaders within the corporate world, a domain traditionally pre-dominated by Arab men. Many theories have been put forward, where some scholars contend that Arab women should continue working as homemakers (unpaid labour), while others have opined that Arab women should work but under certain restrictions as dictated by religion (Islam), while others speak for complete independence of Arab women. Despite increasing number of women joining the corporate world, the trend shows women face gender bias, especially while being considered for promotion in the managerial levels. The problem statement of this paper thus is can Arabic women be accorded equal treatment as men as regards playing the role of a managerial leader? This paper examines the various theories on Arab women’s role within the society. It will review the various studies showing instances of gender bias that Arab women face in their role as employees and leaders in the corporate world. It found that gender disparity within workplace exists, and that unless the government comes up with the appropriate policies then this problem will persist. The change should address the social perspective where men and women will be viewed as equal. Currently, women are not be treated equally as men, even though they may make good leaders. Thus, different Arabic States have a big role in the creation of policies that will favour women in the workplace. 1 Introduction    “Over the centuries, femininity has been stereotyped as dependent, submissive and conforming, and hence women have been seen as lacking in leadership qualities....The male bias is reflected in the false conception of leadership as mere command or control. As leadership comes properly to be seen as a process of leaders engaging and mobilizing the human needs of followers, women will be more readily recognized as leaders and men will change their own leadership styles (Burns, 1978, 50). It is indeed a matter of debate, whether there are actually any perceivable differences between male and female leaders with regards to their efficiency and attitude in the leading managerial posts. Studies show that female employees in general, even in the liberated western world, tend to face more barriers than their male their counterparts while achieving success at work place, particularly when the top managerial posts are concerned. This is especially true where the top positions are dominated by the male colleagues, or where there is a greater number of male subordinates (Eagly, Karau, and Makhijani, 1995, 25). The barriers faced by women have no apparent relationship to the abilities necessary to for becoming a good leader. They primarily arise from a false assumption that female employees lack the right attitude needed, when dealing with difficult situations (Gatrell and Cooper, 2007). Such demanding situations make it necessary that the person at the helm is capable of taking decisions unfalteringly. Additionally, a person must possess confidence, determination, sense of fairness, honesty, and a certain amount of aggressiveness. In a general workplace situation, when the right candidate for a top managerial post is being chosen women are disregarded as lacking the aforementioned attributes necessary to be a leader, and this bias exists right from the start of a management career for women (Howard and Wellins, 2009). In the Arab world, the scenario is even worse, where we find working women have been striving to prove their leadership values for many decades (Hijab, 1988, 1-20). In the present world of management, the style of leadership is an important subject that focuses on how the leaders function, since the leader’s functional attitude greatly influences the subordinates, in terms of achieving the targeted goals and building strong relationships (Northouse, 2006). In order to find the position of Arab women as leaders within various organizations, this paper will first discuss the social and traditional mindset towards Arab women where they are viewed as primarily suitable for domestic work; then it will discuss gender discrimination in workplaces in Middle East, and explore to seek whether men have innately better leadership qualities then women. While studying these issues the paper will also discuss the fine thread balance that working women must maintain between their professional and family life, the various obstacles that they face while entering the line of businesses, the indicators that are signaling a change for the rights of Arab women and the training programs or ways for leadership development focused on improving the workplace situation of Arab women.   2 A review of related literature 2.1 Traditional gender bias in domestic labor in the Arab countries: Increased participation of women in the workplace, primarily after WWI and WWII, had led to a kind of revolution that broke down the age old notion of division of labor. It was believed that in a family, men were breadwinners, while women took part in the domestic chores (unpaid), and were dependent on their male members for support of a financial kind (Blau, 1964). The bargaining and contract models, social exchange models had once predicted that increased participation of women in the workforce would bring them more freedom and justice both in office, and in home as regards fair division of unpaid domestic labor (England and Farkas, 1986). However, this did not take place in reality and women were still facing bias, where they were still being viewed as being more suitable for domestic work (Hochschild, 1989). Even though numbers of women joining offices have significantly increased worldwide in the last few decades, there has been a less shift in the perspective of women as domestic workers (Blossfeld and Drobnic, 2001). Here Hochschild (1989) suggested that when the wife’s earning power threatens the power balance in a home, the couple then seeks out a resolution where the breadwinning woman comprises by doing more domestic chores despite the “logic of the pocketbook.” This theory found empirical support in various researches conducted in Australia (Bittman, England, Sayer, Folbre and Matheson, 2003) and USA (Brines, 1994). In the context of the Middle East countries there are some that advocate the complete freedom of working women without any restrictions, while some feel that women should be allowed to work with some restrictions, with the latter basing their debate on religious dictates (Islamic) and notions of gender differences (Hijab, 1998). Moghadam (2003, 33-151) in her work gives examples where she showed the successful part played by middle-east women in various high positions within NGOs, government offices, or in the private sector. However, Khabash (2003) feels that women in the middle east countries, like Bahrain, UAE, or Kuwait, still has to put up with a great deal of struggle to gain freedom and participate in the national democratic activities, and they strive hard to remove the existing cultural and social barriers (ibid). Traditionally, Arab societies have always set different social norms for their people. Based on the preset standards, the people of these countries have in mind what is appropriate for women and they idealize domestic roles as culturally befitting women (Hijab, 1988). As per the advocates of women working under certain restrictions in the Arab countries, Islam recommends that women should work within the home or outside their homes, only under specific conditions (Hussain, 2001, 161–187). They further add that women within the Islamic society must learn to maintain a balance between her duties in workplace and home (ibid), and the type of office work undertaken by a woman should fit her in terms of office culture, gender, position and the nature of her colleagues (Bodman, and Tohidi, 1998, 137-187). There are also some critics that feel Arab women should completely refrain from going to offices under any circumstances, and they feel that a women’s place is only within the four walls of domesticity (ibid). However, recently these age-old Arab traditions are increasingly being viewed with skepticism, as more women from the Middle East countries are expressing their dissent and their concerns over the feeling of bias and gender discrimination (Said, Abu-Nimer, Sharify-Funk, 2006, 15-81). From the perspective of socio-cultural researches, most Arab scholars believe that it is the old traditional beliefs and cultural values that form to be the main barriers in the creation of equal rights for women in the Middle East countries (Hijab, 1988, 1-15). 2.2 The stereotyped notion that men are innately better leaders than women: Even though an increasing number of women are taking over as leaders within the domain of the modern workplace, the very idea of a woman leader still sounds outlandish to many people, men and women alike. Modifying their views is a difficult process, as certain specific norms of leadership that are traditional in nature, are firmly embedded into the minds of these individuals. In a majority of the societies, and especially in the conservative ones like the Middle Eastern countries, it has been the men who have always held leadership positions. Leadership roles for women in the past, has always been associated with all women organizations like institutions for girls, convents, sororities, but even here we find that, invariably the all-important post of a President in a women’s college would be given to a man (Bass, 1981). The reason behind such gender bias was the basic universal theory which took into consideration the assumption that leadership attributes are associated only with the male members of the society, while women lacked them. Such stereotypic social behavior often has a negative impact on the women working top-level managerial posts. As Bass (1981) states “We expect women to be more submissive, so we have trouble taking orders from women, no matter what they are like individually. Women leaders themselves are in conflict when facing divergence in what is expected from them in their roles as managers and in their roles as females, but do these stereotypes reflect reality? (496) There is socially constructed (mis)conception that leadership is masculine in nature thus, even though a woman maybe efficient and capable she is less likely to be considered as a leader, because of her sex (Stockdale and Crosby, 2004, 154-156). Thus, effective leadership is always linked with strong skills for taking fast decisions and communicating well; working characteristics which are strongly associated with men- like being commanding, definitive, and judicious, rather than the collective and inclusive style of working that are presumably associated with women (Eagly, Karau, and Makhijani, 1995). Gender stereotypes influence the acceptance of women in the role of leaders and organizational managers, and more often than not ‘good managers’ are still viewed as something that is inherently ‘male,’ even though there many good women managers are seen in the recent times (Eagly, & Johnson, 1990, 233-256). Researches have shown that organizational culture plays an important part in creating a specific attitude towards female leaders within that particular work environment (Palermo, 2004); and the most dominating culture evident in a majority of the organizations is one which attaches more value to its male employees than their female counterparts. As Piterman (2008) claimed, “the business environment is dominated by a limiting female archetype that places women in a cultural straight-jacket [where] women are subjected to intense scrutiny that transcends performance” (cited in, Department for Communities, Women in leadership Strategies for Change, 2010, 15). Here Piterman (2008) expressed further concern that owing to this prejudice, often talented and efficient women are overlooked and not offered leadership roles, as they appear to be a cultural misfit within an organization’s workplace environment (ibid). Leaders are stereotypically viewed as being ‘aggressive,’ ‘competitive,’ and ‘dominating,’ all of which are socially accepted as being typical male characteristics. With such mindset a female leader is often viewed as an aberration, and “women who become leaders are often offered the presumed accolade of being described as being like men” (Hearn & Parkin, 1986-87, 38). Even Margaret Thatcher, during her term as the Prime minister of UK, was often referred to as the “best man” in UK. Even though there are different legal measures for according protection to women’s rights the within workplace, such traditional mindset still remains. Owing to such stereotypic notions women aiming to be leaders must necessarily be better qualified than their male counterparts vying for the same post, with larger number of records to prove their accomplishments. Even if they are given the post, it is assumed that the women leaders would “behave just like their male counterparts rather than enhancing their roles with the new and varied talents and fresh perspectives they might bring” (Shavlik & Touchton, 1988, 101). 2.3 Discrimination in the workplace between the men and the women in the Middle East:  Gender bias in the workplace is an issue of great concern in the Middle East nations. This is because it hinders the optimal channeling of the region’s complete productive potential. While rest of the world has shown a constant rise at 56.6% in womens paid employment participation, the rate in Middle East and North Africa has remained at 32%, which is the lowest when compared to all other regions in the world (ILO, Discrimination at Work in the Middle East and North Africa, 1). However, according to ILO reports recently there have been some improvements in the Middle East for the female employees in the workplace. As ILO states “While the Middle East and North Africa may still have the lowest share of women in non-agricultural paid employment at 28.2%, the increase in this variable for the region has been strongest compared to all other regions, rising 3.7% over the past decade. A good indication of a reduction in discriminatory hiring policies is womens employment in good quality jobs in legislative, senior official or managerial (LSOM) positions” (ibid). Further figures from ILO show that even though women employees are a minority in the top level managerial jobs in these countries, the Middle East nations have shown an “absolute percentage increase of almost 2% reaching a level of 11% in 2004” (ibid). Women of other religions, like Christianity or Hinduism (members of immigrant families), residing in these countries, suffer doubly, from gender bias and religious discrimination. 2.4 Indicators of changes for the rights of Arab women and their entry into the business sectors: Women in the Middle East countries have recently started participating in the private or governmental sectors. Additionally, they have started engaging in business activities, however, they still represent a minority. One of the main reasons for this is that a large number of women in these regions remain uneducated, thus making them unsuitable for office work. Even though social norms are less stringent, and girls are now sent to schools for education, but illiteracy remains widespread amongst the females in Middle East (OECD Observer, Women at Work, 2009). In these regions, geography also plays an important role as women in “remote and conservative rural areas have less opportunity to find work or create businesses than women based in cities…Social class also matters: the servants that allow some women to run their businesses do not tend to have the same access to education and job prospects as their bosses. In short, despite evidence of progress, more needs to be done to help all women in the MENA area reach their potential and unleash the economic and social benefits they can bring” (ibid). Various initiatives are being worked out by the middle east governments along with OECD, to form more gender sensitive public policies to help women in workplace, as well assist the working women to balance professional and personal life, in order to increase women participation in both private and public sectors, including the top level managerial posts (ibid). There has been some perceivable changes in the Middle East countries in the arena of private businesses, with more women are forming their own enterprises, thus slowly changing the equation of a woman’s role in the national economy (ibid). Here OECD presents encouraging figures, where it shows that in Bahrain, in the 1960s, women workforce comprised of only around 5% of the total labor force of the country, compared to an average 30% women workforce in US during the same time. However, in 2001, we find that in Bahrain, women workers comprised of 40% of the total workforce. Similarly, in “United Arab Emirates, where female-owned businesses faired considerably better than those in the US in 2007, with 33% of the Emirate companies surveyed earning annual revenues of more than US$100,000, compared to only 13% of women-owned businesses in the US in the same year….and from 1990 to 2003, womens share of economic activity in the MENA region increased by a fifth, one of the fastest rates of increase anywhere and over six times the worldwide rate” (ibid). However, even in this sector the traditional patriarchal social attitudes still persists and forms a major barrier for the women wishing to enter the domain of business, and the womens right to opt for paid work and office promotions, still remains compromised, owing to their socially decided duties as mothers and wives (El Safty, 2003). Given below in the table are the various leadership programs seen in the Middle East countries: Fig 1: Typology of Leadership Development Programs in the Middle East. The table shows the various leaderships programs available in the Middle East countries including those for women. However, such programs specially aimed at training women as future leaders still remain inadequate, and much more needs to be done by the government in this direction (Source: Al-Dabbagh and Assaad, 2010, 4-5, 8). 3 Conclusion In the Arab countries, there is no doubt that the patriarchal mindset is still widely prevalent and women are still considered to be more suitable for unpaid domestic work. Women are generally treated with bias in the workplace. This especially visible while selecting candidates for top managerial posts in a company where they are overlooked due to their sexual orientation. The selection is done without any consideration on their capabilities or efficiencies. 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