“ARE WOMEN IN MANAGEMENT VICTIMS OF THE PHANTOM OF THE MALE NORM?”
Introduction
Billing (2011) analyzes the state of gender pressure on women at different workplaces. The accepted assumption is that there exists a pressure on women within workplaces because of their gender characteristics. Social environment shows some norms that are male dominance. At many workplaces, managers claim that there is equality between genders. In contrast, according to many academicians, workplaces have a male dominant culture and women workers are treated differently from male workers (Acker, 2006).
After being regular workers, women managers go into transformation. The organization culture expects them to fulfill some requirements for being managers. According to many male workers, being manager requires some features that male workers possess (Acker, 1990). For this reason, when a woman becomes manager, it might be difficult to satisfy the necessary requirements. For this study, the author interviews twenty women managers from varying industries. Some women managers express that the main issue as manager is independent of gender while other women managers express their feelings that there is a gender issue in the workplace (Porter, 1992).
Within the conclusion, the author argues whether there exist gendered jobs. The author gives many examples that falsify social assumptions on genders in the workplace. Some jobs are considered for males which many women can easily do and vice versa. Consequently, there is no certain classification of jobs in terms of genders, but we observe that social perception on the relation between jobs and genders shape our feelings and workplaces (Bose, 1985).
Main Ideas in the Paper
The paper tries to develop a relatively better understanding on whether there exist male norms within workplaces which influence female workers and managers negatively or not. The author explains that the size of negative influence of male norms on female workers is exaggerated. Studies and the author’s study indicate that there is an exaggeration; however, there exist some issues relevant to women managers.
There are no certain definitions relevant to gendered works and positions. The definitions might change depending on the social acceptances in time. Therefore, it is not possible to claim that some jobs are gendered, and male norms influence women doing male-gendered-jobs (Bose, 1985). Nonetheless, there are many proofs showing that some social acceptance creates male norms, and women managers feel the influence on them.
Managerial jobs are considered as male-gendered jobs. Depending on this social perception, many people consider that managerial jobs carry some difficulties for female workers. For instance, a manager has to form and apply discipline at work, and women workers cannot dominate other workers (Diamant and Lee, 2002). For this reason, women cannot be good managers. This perception exists in different industries. The study shows that it cannot be proven that some jobs are difficult for one gender. It is observed that some jobs considered difficult for women are completed by female workers (Crompton and Anderson, 1992).
Consequently, the author strongly expresses that the social assumptions on gendered jobs are not true. Gendered-job definitions are not certain, and there is no scientific proof. Furthermore, social perceptions are shaping definitions and behavioral patterns. As a result, if a woman manager is successful, society would consider her success as a lucky one. There is a discrepancy between reality and social perceptions. Women managers’ expressions indicate to that they do not face a very difficult situation because of male-gendered-job definitions (Diamant and Lee, 2002).
Methodology of the Paper
The literature review shows results taken from the studies shows that many of the studies are qualitative studies based on observations and focus group workshops. Considering that the subject of the paper involves social phenomena, it is an appropriate way of developing the studies through qualitative methods. There are three main ways of producing qualitative information: 1) observations, 2) interviews, and 3) focus groups. Many of the studies on gendered-job definitions use observations to understand social perception about jobs.
However, observations give academicians information of social perceptions those might not be accurate or cannot be proven scientifically. Interviews help academicians learn insights and can provide an environment for researchers to create an intimate connection with targeted people. The intimate connection can transfer essential information from interviewee to interviewer. Focus group is another important way of creating qualitative information. Creating some group dynamics between the attendees and by interviewing the group simultaneously, the researcher can collect information from each attendee in the group.
Considering that the qualitative information received from interviewees is biased, the author needs to create some controls for the information. The author uses the information from other studies to confirm the information from interviewees. At the same time, the author needs to create a control inside his setting. For instance, interviewing or applying a simple questionnaire to some other people around the interviewed women managers might help the author to decrease any biased as much as possible. The author will not be able to create any quantitative information in this setting, and probably, he will not need quantitative information for this study.
For forming complete information about the position of women managers, the study needs to be designed as including all the stakeholders relevant to the issue. The stakeholders are all other workers, family members, and people in the social environment of the women managers (Acker, 1990). Including the information on the issue from all these stakeholders might provide a relatively more complete and appropriate information.
Critique of the Paper
The paper provides some results which are proved by the information from previous studies and interviews. However, the information from people around women workers and managers are gathered from previous studies, and the author does interview any person around the twenty women managers. Therefore, any information comes directly from the twenty women managers. The information from previous studies gives some social perceptions on the issue. We would expect that the study provides some complete information about the issue.
References
Acker, J. (1990). Hierarchies, jobs, bodies: A theory of gendered organizations. Gender \& society, 4(2), pp.139--158.
Acker, J. (2006). Gender and organizations. Springer, pp.177--194.
Bose, C. (1985). Jobs and gender. 1st ed. New York: Praeger.
Crompton, R. and Anderson, K. (1992). Gendered jobs and social change. British Journal of Management, 3, pp.53--59.
Diamant, L. and Lee, J. (2002). The psychology of sex, gender, and jobs. 1st ed. Westport, Conn. Praeger.
Porter, S. (1992). Women in a women's job: the gendered experience of nurses. Sociology of Health \& Illness, 14(4), pp.510--527.
