Gender Roles

Gender Roles

Introduction

Gender is one of the factors affecting social differences between women and men in the society. The social difference between women and men is studied during the life of a person, its change over time and variation, depending on the community where a person lives (Carli, & Eagly 34). Gender is normally used to assign different roles to women and men, and is a major determinant of the powers of men and women. Generally, men are perceived to be more superior to women and are normally associated with crucial duties in the society. The superiority of men makes them to be more influential than their female counterparts who might be having the same level of competence.

Gender Difference Between a Boy Child, a Girl Child and Its Psychological Impact

Germaine Greer perceives that the gender equality is easy to achieve. The source of the gender inequality dates back from the time when a child is born to the time of its entering to the adult life. Normally, boys and girls are born in families that treat them differently. In some societies, girls are taught to always treat men as their superiors. The Shona community, for example, teaches young boys the roles of family heads while girls are taught to be obedient. The Shona society sees women as lower human beings, more subjected as sexual objects. However, Shonas are not the only people that perceive gender differences in that way as there are other communities too, even in developed countries, who perceive women in the same way.

In many family settings, a boy child gets more important responsibilities than girls. The responsibilities arguably meant to improve his skills as expectations are to take care of the family properties. In most cases, girls get little attention when they get married and fail to manage the family properties. Many families enjoy it if there is a boy child. Hence, girls are demoralized and mostly see themselves as being less important. The inferiority complex experienced in childhood, makes girls target minor goals, a factor that has weakened the influence of women in the field of education and research.

Parents normally buy their children different types of toys in an attempt to please them. Girls receive dolls while boys get toys molded in the form of motor vehicles and puzzle games. The toys, more importantly the puzzle games, improve the thinking ability while dolls do not even engage the mental ability. Consequently, the girl child grows up expecting to be less involved in complicated issues of development. There are those who realize and change the mentality, but the realization of the potential comes too late, as the tender age is always an orientation stage. Boys, on the other hand, grow up knowing that the society expects them to be brave, innovative and creative. Boys are commonly involved in research and those that pull through come up with very good ideas. Girls might be having the potential to perform the same way as their male counterparts, but the society condemns them to be less productive.

Education also plays a big role in the differentiation between boys and girls. Education system of Zimbabwe is organized in such a way that girls appear to be inferior to boys (Chirimuuta 80). Individuals might point at the Zimbabwean government as being weak and inconsiderate, but the same problem hovers across the globe. Considering most textbooks used in classrooms by kids, have stories that portray boys as unique and hardy beings and girls as dependent beings. Children tend to agree with these arguments without reasoning. The great difference suggested by these materials influences the thinking of boys and girls. A girl child stops thinking critically since she sees this as less important while the boy realizes that he has more responsibilities in the society, hence, tunes his mind to handle bigger issues. The books also affect how boys and girls form their attitude towards studies. Girls tend to believe that education is meant for boys, and it is those that are wise enough who survive from this.

Families are answerable to the behavior changes in girls and boys. Most families condone the behavior of a boy’s refusal to take orders from their mother. Girls take orders from both parents. Parents might not realize the impact of this, but the boy grows up seeing women as lower human beings and inadequate to make a decision on their behalf.

Roles of Women In Corporate Organization

The role of men and women in businesses depends on how the workers respond to their arguments. Women quest for leadership positions is undermined when the society views her as being inferior to men and unable to make proper decisions. In most business settings, men are the key decision makers while women receive low status jobs. Men take over the more technical jobs while women get jobs that only serve as assistance to the higher offices. The assumption by the employers is that men are more competent and skilled than women. Hence, they deserve the technical jobs. Many people argue that men are able to control their emotions unlike women (Becker 56). A woman leader will use force to enforce some rules in a business while a man will employ other methods that will not hurt the workers. A woman leader will be more authoritative. Therefore, majority of juniors might find it hard coping with her. Men dislike the fact that women can take up important positions in the business. Women, therefore, may find it hard to control a group of workers comprised of men mostly. This might end up paralyzing many operations of the business entity resulting in unnecessary losses.

Factors Hindering Women from Becoming Managers

People will most likely adhere to the rules set by a competent person more than the rules set by the incompetent person. Guidance from an incompetent person is ignored and will never be effective in an organization. The society perceives woman as being unskilled and less competent, therefore, disqualifies her from becoming a better manager. Men are expected to be more economically educated than females, despite the fact that they have the same level of knowledge. Many women are pushed too far to prove that they can have the same influential abilities as men (Carl, & Eagly 45). Chances of women ever holding an important office are reduced due to this unfair argument. According to researchers, women probably might  achieve fewer goals that they set compared to their male counterparts.

The business entities will only recognize the ideas of women, if they are supported by facts. Bradley (1981) discovered that competent women with opinions that were well supported by facts convinced a group while competent women who were unable to support their ideas with facts ended up losing the attention of the group. However, men are expected to give plain ideas without any need of supportive evidence since they are seen to be perfect due to the intelligence they are believed to possess (Craig, & Sherif 36). All these expectations complicate the work of a woman manager and since the evidence required may be too hard to find. Propp (1995) reported that a man could easily control a group than a woman despite the two having similar information about the group. Propp suggested that the information originating from a man appeared more credible than that from a woman. Individuals from a group controlled by a man raised ideas that are more constructive while the women’s group got no contribution from the members.

The communication style of women hinders them from becoming managers. Men can use virtually any communication strategy and achieve results while women are expected to employ special tactics of communication to be able to control a group. Indirect method of communication is what that assists woman to earn recognition from the juniors. A woman whose communication method is not good enough may never convince people unlike a man who may have poor communication strategies but have some impact on a group.

Interviews are more complicated for women as their competence do not directly guarantee them a chance to get the job. Men, on the other hand, are chosen depending on their level of competence. Buttner and McEnally (1996) researched on the selection mode for men and women during interviews. They observed that the chances of a man getting the job depended on his competence while women were selected according to other traits far from competence (Butter, & McEnally 50). Skilled women are less likely to control the juniors if they are to employ their knowledge. Competent women meet a lot of resistance from the group they are meant to control thus the competency is rendered useless. Men see women that are more knowledgeable than they are as being a threat. Hence, they make efforts to bring them down.

Women Inability to Dominate

A manager’s expectation is to dominate in all decisions of the firm. However, many people might see the female attempt to dominate as being awkward and might react to it with a lot of opposition. Individuals hate a woman that disagrees with their ideas unlike those of a man. People may ignore the threats from a woman. The visual dominance entails using the facial expressions to enforce some policies (Ellyson, Dovidio, & Brown 104). A woman may never achieve dominance by using visual strategy of dominance as it implies something different when it comes to a woman (Copeland, Driskell, & Salas 29). Normally, visual dominance in a woman might evoke hate amongst the group members. A woman will never be allowed to promote herself in a firm as it is seen as being illegal. The act of self-promotion by a man never meets any rejection as it is seen as being normal. Women are expected to listen to the arguments of the group, which means that the group does not trust the ideas presented by a woman fully.

Women Empowerment

Many countries have been petitioning for women empowerment. Gender equality is the matter of interest for many governments. International bodies like UN are struggling hard to ensure that the gender equality is observed in most countries. Gender equality will enable women enjoying equal opportunities and rights with men. The women empowerment is expected to be the responsibility of the society. This means that the empowerment of women may take a long time before it is effective. Formation of Corporations and NGOs in many countries to support women has taken place. The role of women in the economic development of a country has become a matter of interest. There are other laws enforcing organization to support the women.

The welfare of women has improved drastically in the social life, but their role in businesses has not changed much. Men are still more trusted in leadership and they have protected their positions. The difference between securing leadership positions and being protected from abuse is that leadership positions are earned depending on how the individuals view the person. Cultural beliefs are hard to change. Hence, the quest to upgrade the role of women is tricky. Individuals still stick to the old beliefs of women inferiority. The group of women expected to compete and get the managerial jobs is still too small. There are still other rules perceived to be hurting men that have increased the animosity. Women have not gained enough courage to manage business on their own. Patience is required since the intended goals may prove to be hard and time consuming to achieve.

Conclusion

The nature of the child upbringing facilitates gender inequality. Boys are brought up differently from girls. Girls are made to see that their life revolves about relationship and family while men have other bigger roles. This affects their mind and makes women to be dormant in terms of development, while boys strive since they see development as their responsibility. Education is also attributed to be a factor that affects the lives of boys and girls.

In the work place, women are seen as less productive and, therefore, are given simpler jobs. Women are hindered from taking up business leadership by many factors. The first factor is the interview procedure. The criteria used to choose women seem to be too demanding for women. The competency of women is given little attention implying that other factors are considered in order to give her the opportunity. On the other hand, the men selection procedure seems to be clear and fair. The other factor affecting women leadership is opposition from the juniors. Both female and males hate the idea of being led by a woman. Little trust is put on the ideas raised by women. The lack of cooperation from the juniors means that women’s job is jeopardized. The government may have a hard time trying to convince people that women are capable of making proper decisions for firms and corporations. The changes meant to put women in leadership positions might take a long time before they are seen.