INTRODUCTION
There exists some historical events which have been set aside to provide analysis of gender differences between male as well as a female in the workplace. Whether there is existence of gender in the way they influence, lead or else communicate, women as well as men have often been viewed as a set of people who are different and unique. Such differences have put women within the workplace at a disadvantage situation to some extent because they have been perceived as inferior when compared to men. This has been because of cultural as well as historical gender inequalities. However, among such historical events is the women liberation movement which has been in existence since early eighteen century and it has undergone about three distinct waves. The initial stage of feminism put much emphasis on the suffrage of women as well as political equality of female gender in the country (Baker-Sperry et al., 710). This had been followed by equality in laws as well as removal of society cultural discrimination. The final wave put much focus on racism.
The most situation that has been influenced mostly by gender assumption in my workplace is leadership as well as managerial positions in our organization. Most of the top leadership positions such as Managerial Director, a board of directors, departmental heads have been considered to be a male position. Any woman who seems to show interest in such position is viewed as a threat, and she may be fired or demoted from her present position. The argument is that women are a weaker gender, and they are easily carried by emotions. Hence, they cannot make a stronger as well as clear decision for the organization to meet its objectives (Hayes et al., 412). In addition to this, inter-sex communication has been making the interaction between male and female complicated due to an existence of different styles of communication in our organization. This is because of misunderstanding during the communication process.
There are some factors making up the glass ceiling thus hindering most women in the workforce from progressing in their careers as indicated in this gender-based communication module. These factors include; most women leaders lacks role model as well as mentors, functions and ability stereotyping, being excluded from various formal communication networks, in addition to family responsibility commitment. Hence, the ability of women to take up managerial position should not be misjudged since female do face a lot of challenges when compared to their male counterparts. It is true that male and female are distinct psychologically in their actions, from their communication styles as well as the ways they try to influence other people in their area of work. Such gender differences in influence tactics as well as communication have facilitated the existence of a bigger gap in the leadership position for women. My view concerning the difference between male and female communication style is that it should not be the basis for a pointing managers within an organization. The reason being women utilizes communication as an essential tool to facilitate social connection as well as relationship creation while men use language to exercise dominance as well as to gain tangible outcomes (Ivy et al., 102). Additionally, women are more expressive, cautious in addition to polite during the conversation while men are mostly assertive as well as hungry for power. Hence, these differences in gender should be used in my workplace to solve the situation leadership problem.
The gender-based communication course influences my understanding of this situation by enabling to have facts on gender difference. It has also helped me to stop believing on gender gap assumptions. For instance, some research shows that the difference in gender across styles of communication can be concluded that men have a tendency to view conversation as a means of achieving the tangible outcome and mostly they are self-assertive. On the other hand, women do value cooperation primarily, that is, “communal orientation” by generating a concern for others and having selflessness. Hence by understanding that female have less clear attention on where their relationship boundary ends, it will help fellow workers to minimize gender managerial leadership gap at the workplace. By knowing this, I have to understand my fellow workers who are female because they speak tentatively most of the time when compared to men who talk assertively. This will avoid creating the impression that male is more confident as well as proficient as leaders when compared to their female counterparts. Although men and women differ in their influential tactics and this difference has created stereotypical gender roles, I should not have any negative perception of having a female managerial director or else leader at my workspace because I have understood in detail gender-based communication styles (Merchant & Karima 56). Hence, I believe that women can make social good leaders because they have higher influence when compared to men.
Technology stereotypes situation
A day to day teaching at various schools may take place in curriculum areas in which either positive or negative stereotypes may have an effect on a children concepts of personal competence. I experience this during my early childhood education whereby our teachers discouraged preschool girls from embracing computers by their words as well as attitudes. This mad most of my schoolmates who were ladies to develop the negative attitude towards the computer that is making them lose the interest of being competence technology users. Thus in line with our culture, males are considered to be technologically capable when compared to their female counterparts. There are various assumptions made that affected this situation (Samter et al., 270). The first one is cultural set up in which the children are brought up. This is because the socio-culture have been perceived by media mostly. The consumer products overwhelm children mostly with gender-printed messages on towels, clothes, bed sheets, school supplies in addition to toys. These products are also marketed by specific genders as well as stored on gender basis by creating different blue and pink shopping walkways. Secondly, the media portrayals do reinforces this stereotype during their advertising process. For example, when they advertise computers, they typically depict boys or else men as computer utilizes by engaging them in an active professional duty.
The women, on the other hand, are passive as observers or else standing near the computer while dressing colorfully and looking beautiful. Finally, the movies watched by most children, such as cartoon movies do portray a powerful message that has been assumed in this situation. Most of these movies have been valuing male children as stronger than their female counterparts. Most of the computer games also are expressly boyish, and you will find that boys are the one playing computer games. These assumptions do not solve the situation at all. Instead, they make the technology stereotypes to become a greater challenge in preschools which later have more significant impact on the career lives of the male as well as female individuals. These acts must be looked into keenly by various stakeholders such as teachers, family members as well as the school administrators (Samter et al., 270).
Recommendation to improve the outcome of this situation
Since the behavior of preschool educators is a very significant factor in the learning process quality of every child, teachers must not be biased by gender. This is because sexism, as well as gender stereotypes, affects potential growth as well as the development of the children. Therefore, teachers must be able to examine carefully the classroom and its environs and remove toys marked in a manner to encourage single gender, for instance, ‘computers are designed for boys only’. This will make the classroom portray gender-neutral environment. Hence, the children will be enjoying learning, and they will be able to understand that toys belong to both females as well as males. Additionally, the attitude of children towards gender can be positively changed by ensuring that the children read good works of literature (Yan & Zheng 418).
Another recommendation is that the teachers can guide the children by helping them to recognize stereotypes as well as encouraging independent critical thinking towards gender as well as perceptions of gender. Therefore, by teachers, family members, and school administrators should make an intensive effort to impact children with positive, permitted stories as well as images of different characters. This will activate a positive self-concepts for the children as well as promoting anti-bias attitude within all class. Since gender differentiation in addition to the construction of identity begins at home, family members also have a significant role to play to solve technology stereotypes among the children at a tender age. They should rely on their children’s teacher so as to improve the situation. The teachers will be in a position to demonstrate unbiased relations as well as communication, give out encouragement while respecting cultural diversification without prejudice. By having families’ workshop in the school comprising all the stakeholders bi-annually may also be an appropriate measure (Yan & Zheng 418). The discussion during this workshop should be to inform the children about the long-term effects of gender bias and increasing awareness as well as critical thinking on how the families should communicate to their children about gender stereotypes.
Conclusion
The three waves of the liberation of women movement helped in facilitating the leadership capability of women in the workplace. Like some women are capable of climbing different scales of both leadership as well as managerial position. As long as there is a change in the way both genders viewing gender-based communication and reach a point of understanding males and females, this leadership situation will be adequately dealt with. We as a human being should respect one another and never judge other by their gender. Nevertheless, the power of self-concept is very significant, and the adults have an important role to play in influencing children around them. Thus, both families, as well as teachers, are therefore encouraged to thoroughly and actively provide an active learning surroundings for the young kids so as to create a moral context for everything the children learns. This will aid in shaping the worldwide, multicultural anti-bias worldview.
References
Baker-Sperry, Lori, and Liz Grauerholz. "The pervasiveness and persistence of the feminine beauty ideal in children's fairy tales." Gender & Society 17.5 (2003): 711-726.
Hayes, Andrew F. "Beyond Baron and Kenny: Statistical mediation analysis in the new millennium." Communication monographs 76.4 (2009): 408-420.
Ivy, Diana K., and Phil Backlund. GenderSpeak: Personal effectiveness in gender communication. McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, (2004).
Merchant, Karima. "How men and women differ: Gender differences in communication styles, influence tactics, and leadership styles." (2012).
Samter, Wendy, and Brant R. Burleson. "The role of communication in same-sex friendships: A comparison among African Americans, Asian Americans, and European Americans." Communication Quarterly 53.3 (2005): 265-283.
Yan, Zheng. "What influences children's and adolescents' understanding of the complexity of the Internet?." Developmental psychology 42.3 (2006): 418.
