Why Glass Ceiling in Women Leadership Should be Broken (Essay Sample)

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Why Glass Ceiling in Women Leadership Should be Broken
Woman's leadership is not welcome, and has been seen as something impossible for quite a long period, all over the world, but more often than not in America. The women have not been given the chance to lead, and they are told not able to deliver well as leaders (Wood, 2009).There are other cultures which bar them; they are thought to be sex objects, meaning, they are there to be seen and not heard; this is a barriers for them progressing into leadership. The culture that women cannot make good leaders was there many years ago, and it is affecting the current society as well. Some organizations policies do not favor the leadership of women or do not provide room for their leadership at all (Paludi & Breena, 2011). Nowadays women have become a significant economic group. Glass ceiling, as it shows on words, describes the invisible barrier which is based on a gender stereotype, prevents women from rising to upper executive roles and corporate boards of directors. The background above provide the basis for the thesis, “How to realize the gender equality between the men and women in positions of power.”
This essay is an evaluation of what results to women being denied the chances of leading. The essay will show that most of the reasons as to why the women are not allowed to lead are stereotypes. The essay will discuss the stereotypes, as well explore if they are true. The essay will address the qualities needed for leadership and compare whether the women have these characteristics. The essay will culminate on the importance of breaking the glass ceiling and how to go about it.
Times are changing, and the women are getting chances of leading in some of the institutions. In the gone days, the women were not allowed to go for higher education leave alone being leaders. Higher education was thought to be something which belonged to the men (Wood, 2009). There was a general misconception that, the men were more helpful to the society than their women counterparts. The women are known as weaker objects that would not be of help to society other than to get married and deliver babies.
In 1960, a movement was formed, and it saw to it that, the women got a chance to go for higher learning in governments institutions. Since then, the status quo changed. It is even interesting to note that, the women have had their numbers increase and surpass that of men in the colleges and the universities (Rainbow, 2010). Example, according to a research done in the US, adults above 25 years of age, 10.6 million women had a master degree compared to 10.5 men .They have been found to outdo, or to outshine the men in education. They have excelled well, and they have been able to secure employment positions in the colleges and many other places (Wood, 2009)
The problem is that, even though they are employed, they have not been allowed to the top management and into the board (Wood, 2009). It is not that they are not able, but it is because of the general attitude that they cannot make it. Example is the inspirations of the American women by the words in the bible were Paul exclaimed in one of the books that, the women were not to address or lead the men (Diana, 2012). Also, it is because leadership has been thought to belong to the masculine, in most cultures (Paludi & Breena, 2011).
However, women can be tough; there evidence of some women who have gone up to the top in politics and many other organizations. Most of those who have found their way up the ladder to the top most positions have been able to prove that indeed women are good leaders. Some of the leaders who are in this category include Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Hilary Clinton. Chancellor Angela Merkel, the president of Germany, has been highlighted as the fourth most powerful person in the world (Klotz, 2011). Chancellor Angela Merkel is among the minority women who have been able to go to the senior most possible position in politics. She has proved that women have the capability to be good leaders, and especially in politics. Angela Merkel is a woman leader who has won the trust of most people; hence the number she has as one of the most influential persons in the world. Hilary Clinton is the second example of a woman leader who has gone to the highest ranks of leadership (Paludi & Breena, 2011). According to a poll conducted by gullup, she had a rating of 66%. 66% is a percentage rating from random sample technique voting, a representative percentage which has never been in the history of America. There had been many men who had held the position which she holds, the US secretary of state, and they did not manage to get such kind of rating even with the stereotype that the work is theirs. That is an indication that women make good leaders in places of high status (Klotz, 2011).Hilary Clinton is the best example of an appointed leader who performed exemplary.
Even though the women have been treated as sex objects in many places, success can be achieved if the women are treated fairly. Being viewed is the reason they face many challenges in the places where they work. Even getting their first job may be very hard without giving into the employer's selfish desires (Rainbow, 2010). Likewise is to those who desire to be promoted to the higher echelons of leadership. The bosses demand offers in order to make good their request. That is the kind of hardships that then women undergo on the field of employment. It is only few of them who are able to withstand the pressure and fail to bow to the requests and offers given to them.
They face other challenges such as being blamed when things do not go right. When something fails to go right, and the decision involved many people, the women are the ones occasionally blamed. According to (Paludi & Breena, 2011) the women are thought to influence decisions, and there decisions are stereotyped to be weak and unfavorable. Women are maliciously dismissed out of jobs because of other people’s mistakes. Most bosses will always find fault in the women whenever a case is presented to them to resolve. They face other many challenges on a daily basis as much as they are in the leadership level, which should not be the case.
To judge on the ability of women in leading, it is important to look at the qualities of leadership and compare to see whether the women have them. Qualities are in order with the thesis, to ascertain whether they are denied leadership on a genuine basis or just stereotyping. The qualities are as discussed in the following paragraphs. Even though, the paper will show that the women have the qualities, not all of the women make good leaders as well. The discussed characteristics do not stand for all women.
The leader should be an excellent communicator. Leaders should be the kind of people who constantly communicate on the progress. Most leaders spend most of their times communicating to the people that they are leading (Frieda). Leaders too should be the kind of people who know how to pass information across well. The women have been known to be the best communicators since long (Klotz, 2011)
The second quality of an excellent leader is that they should be visionary. Leaders should have dreams that they plan to actualize (Bowerman & Montgomery, 2010). They are to check into the far future and to visualize where they want to have the people they are leading to be or how the organization they are leading they want to be in like 20 years or so years to come. Visionary leaders know how to craft visions that are real and look for strategies, and objectives in line to see to it that they actualize. Example, Chancellor Angel Merkel, she is politically visionary for her country Germany. She wants the nuclear energy production to be brought to an end before 2022, because of the negative effects and instead replace it with renewable energy sources, a process taking course.
The third is that empathy. The leader is in a position to understand what the employees are feeling. The leader can notice when the followers are tired and take the measure necessary (Klotz, 2011).Giving a break can be one of the best strategies, so that they are motivated to do much better. Hillary Clinton is a good example of an empathetic leader who is said to associate with the problems of a an average American.
The fourth quality is perspective. The way of seeing things is what is referred to as perspective. According to (Klotz, 2011), the women are known to have a better and broad perspective in nature as compared to men. The women think of the customers, their desires, tastes and many other things when in leadership as opposed to the men (Bowerman & Montgomery, 2010). That is one of the key and important things in leadership. The customers in an organization or the followers in an organization love it when their leaders understand them.
The fifth and final quality for this case is maturity. According to (Bowerman & Montgomery, 2010), maturity is the ability to stand for a cause and to be visionary. It is notable that, the women have the ability to think long term as compared to most men. Maturity is one of the leadership characteristics which show that denying women leadership positions are a matter of a myth. Men and wom...