Obstacles Faced by Women in Pursuit of Leadership Roles
For several years, women in the United States and around the world have faced many obstacles in their pursuit of top leadership roles in the business world. In reality, women make up a relatively limited proportion of top executive positions and CEO (Chief Executive Officer) positions (6 percent) (Carly & Eagly, 2007).
Glass Ceiling and Barriers
Despite the fact that they outsmart men in leadership roles when given the opportunity, relatively few females dare to ascend the leadership ladder. The presence of a glass ceiling and a maze of barriers in the twentieth century was blamed for the low percentage of women in leadership roles (Quast, 2012). These obstacles include the perception that it is not appropriate for a woman to be in a leadership position, gender prejudice in the society, and family demands on women (Cook & Glass, 2016). This perception insinuates that men are favored by the society over women for leadership positions. Despite these challenges, there are women who have striven against all odds. They have made great milestones in leadership and can be emulated as role models by their fellow women.
Discussion
In the 21st century, the glass ceiling does not exist anymore. In most cases, women are their own causes for failure to obtain top executive jobs in companies and elite organizations. Most of them are not assertive enough to go for these positions (Martin, 2007). The lack of assertiveness is seen in many ways. For instance, in the workplace, many women have not established well-defined borders for their personal standards and integrity. Similarly, their career priorities are not well determined either (Caprino, 2012). They lack strategic visions for their careers. Subsequently, most of them do not have a self-defined path or set of goals to act as guidance to them in the workplace. Thus, they make work-related decisions without taking time to think of major implications of these decisions in the future. As such, their decisions are not taken seriously by their colleagues, and it is assumed that they can be swayed in any direction.
On the same note, women do not have personal brands at work. These are a self-selected set of values that one chooses and nourishes to excellence so that they can help a person to stand out. In this way, one gains the ability to set oneself apart from her competitors since her set of values gives one a competitive edge. Since most women have not established this personal brand, they do not have a chance against male competitors. Still, at a personal level, many female employees are not firmly decisive. This is because they do not have a full realization of their self-worth (Carli & Eagly, 2007). They are always filled with self-doubt and fears of talking about their positive traits. This causes them to always rely on the compliments or criticism of colleagues who are not honest in most cases. Consequently, women are vulnerable because they can easily be talked out of accomplishing their dreams by people who do not want them to prosper in their careers.
Because of self-doubt and disbelief (Smith, 2007), women tend to compare themselves with fellow women in the organizations where they work. This comparison does not bear fruit or assist the women in any way, since it is done between peers who have not achieved a lot in life. As such, it does not challenge the women to be assertive. Therefore, they do not strive to new levels in their careers. They stagnate at the same level for long periods of time as long as they are as good as their friends (Baker, 2014).
Again, in the workplace, women are not keen to learn lessons from the dynamic corporate world to help them remain relevant. They are not willing to adopt new situations or abrupt changes. Additionally, they have always fallen short of the ability to identify new opportunities that can be utilized to their advantage (Baker, 2014). In a similar manner, most women are not assertive because they do not work towards gaining the experience necessary to help them make wise decisions regarding the opportunities for profit that they encountered. Thus, they end up making poor decisions (Waller & Lublin, 2015).
On top of this, women who have worked in a given company for a long time get complacent and do not seek greener pastures elsewhere. They become too loyal to their employer to leave (Waller & Lublin, 2015). This rigidity limits women's opportunities for promotions.
Further, women have failed in the area of complimenting themselves (Caprino, 2012). Even in situations where they have made great breakthroughs, most of them do not talk about it in an effort to assertively market themselves (Smith, 2007). In this situation, they tend to give the credit to others by explaining how these people helped them to get success. Therefore, they give their success and the opportunities it created to other people who do not deserve it.
Likewise, they allow the stereotypes in society about the lesser role of women in leadership to affect them (Cambridge Union Society, 2012). As a result, they fail to go for high positions of leadership in fear that society will criticize them. Since they are not assertive, they settle for jobs that do not require great leadership skills (Smith, Crittenden & Caputi, 2012). Most of them never take time to question the perceptions of society that put them down. They just accept them as the norm and live therein comfortably.
Instead of focusing on their uniqueness as women, they compare themselves to men and try to emulate their style of leadership (Carli & Eagly, 2007). In addition, they are not just ambitious enough to go for the best in the corporate world. Since this requires self-discipline and sacrifices, most of them are not ready to pay the price to become the best (Cambridge Union Society, 2012). Also, women face self-imposed challenges in balancing family life and professional work. As such, they mix the two areas and end up as ineffective leaders.
Resilience is one great characteristic of successful leadership that women lack. When faced with a challenge at work, they do not try hard enough to solve the problem prudently. Instead, they bail out (Cook & Glass, 2016). The fear factor also prevents women from going for very high positions; most of them have a defined "success point". This is an upper limit of success that women set for themselves, how far they are willing to stretch their capabilities. It borders the fear of the unknown.
Developing Unique Female Traits for Leadership
Instead of comparing themselves to men, women can focus on developing their unique female traits to help them excel in leadership (Baker, 2014). They need to work on their personal character to acquire positive traits to make them assertive. First, they should set personal standards of integrity. This will help them stand firmly for the decisions they make (Martin, 2007). As a result, they will command respect from their colleagues.
Again, it is important for each woman to set well-defined goals and work hard to achieve them fearlessly. Each one of them should be able to state what they want for themselves without relying on society to tell them what to do (Quast, 2012). In addition, women can form welfare organizations with other women in the workplace. These will assist in helping the members identify opportunities in the job markets and in the solution of problems encountered. Likewise, it is an important tool in networking, which helps in making deals with other players in the corporate world (Martin, 2007). Also, this helps women gain the courage they need to face the challenges at work fearlessly.
Again, it is important for women to persistently go for their goals in life with great caution to be able to identify the challenges in the way and be able to look into the future through the analysis of current trends. Likewise, using their talents, they can develop personal brands (extraordinary skillset) which will help them in marketing themselves for better job opportunities (Cook & Glass, 2016). As such, women will be decisive and will not be dependent on men for career prosperity. They will be able to go out on their own and define their own paths (Martin, 2007).
In order to avoid the mixing of personal and professional life issues, women should train in time management and master the art of delegation of duties. This will help them achieve more in life since a balance between family life and work leads to greater satisfaction and success for most women (Carli and Eagly, 2007).
Conclusion
In recent years, various organizations help women defy odds and rise in the leadership ladder. For instance, they are able to unite with other women across the corporate world. In situations where new opportunities arise, they can communicate within the groups and encourage one another to go after them. Additionally, they assist women in acquiring the skills to become assertive, such as courage and prudent methods of dealing with problems. This makes it possible for them to become the best executive managers since they are naturally smarter than men.
References
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