Race, Class, and Gender in Occupation - Essay Example

This is very true. When women candidates go for interviews with male counterparts, the males are more likely to have had had more experiences as managers in other companies and this increases their chances of being taken as company CEOs. Oakley (322) also attributes this to inadequate career opportunities among women. Because of the long-lived bias in the selection of professionals at the lower managerial positions, many women have not had time to gather the experience required for promotion to top managerial positions.

The few number of female CEOs is also a result of negative gender-based stereotypes. This is more pronounced in technology and science-based firms than the media and other firms that concentrate on consumer goods. One of the stereotypes is that female CEOs are less confident, less consistent, less analytical, less emotionally stable, lack aggressiveness, and have poorer leadership abilities compared to men. Other stereotypes are that they personalize negative feedback rather than viewing it professionally, for example, running from the room in tears if challenged or criticized.

They are also believed to work to supplement family income and thus lack powerful motivation to drive a business to succeed and they tend to place family demands like caring for children above work considerations. Although attitudes towards the role of women in the society have changed significantly, women are still viewed as being less suited for managerial positions compared to men.. Other stereotypes are that they personalize negative feedback rather than viewing it professionally for example running from the room in tears if challenged or criticized.

They are also believed to work to supplement family income and thus lack powerful motivation to drive a business to succeed and they tend to place family demands like caring for children above work considerations. Although attitudes towards the role of women in the society have changed significantly, women are still viewed as being less suited for managerial positions compared to men. Oakley (323) explains that there is too much old boy network at the higher managerial positions and when this is combined with tokenism, their role in influencing the selection of males over females for top managerial positions cannot be ignored.

Gender differences in social and linguistic styles are also one of the arguments behind the gender bias in the selection of company CEOs. Many people believe that women are less powerful in exerting social influence especially in mixed-sex groups compared to men. They also believe that contributions made by men get more attention from the members of the group than those made by women. This creates the fear that influential attempts made by women CEOs are more likely to be ignored. Women do not portray that authoritative communication styles compared to men and surveys indicate that some men believe they are less likely to be influenced by women.

Other arguments for this gender bias in the selection of women CEOs revolve around the claims of differences in leadership styles between males and females. Women are generally viewed as not able to display the type of leadership