Running head: Why Are Women Underrepresented In Elite Leadership Roles? 1

Assignment Essay 2

Why Are Women Underrepresented In Elite Leadership Roles?

Ardavan A. Shahroodi

Northeastern University

LDR 7980—Master’s Project Capstone

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Why Are Women Underrepresented In Elite Leadership Roles 2

Why Are Women Underrepresented in Elite Leadership Roles

The path to leadership for women is fraught with ceaseless challenges, uncompromising

social norms and gender stereotypes. While women’s familial obligations constrain their career

oriented choices and options, gender related social norms inhibit the growth of their career based

confidence and negotiating power. In these realms, women’s leadership aspirations are also

penalized by gender stereotypes and the resultant bias/prejudice that regards them as unfitting to

fulfill the role of a leader in overwhelmingly masculine and hierarchical environments.

Analysis

There are actually a number of reasons why women are underrepresented in elite

leadership roles. First on a practical level, Delong (2007) argues that women’s familial

responsibilities compel them to leave “work voluntarily at some point during their careers” (p.

8). Here, Delong (2007) cites a study involving “highly qualified women” (p. 8) where “4 in 10

of the sample had left work voluntarily at some point during their careers…only 74% will

manage to [return]…and only 40% of those will return to full-time professional jobs ” (p. 8).

Unfortunately, in these situations, “once women step off the conventional promotion track in

favor of a part-time job or time away from work, it can be difficult to climb back on” (Delong,

2007, p. 8). Moreover, in organizations where women take advantage of benefits such as

“telecommuting, flexible hours, and reduced work hours” (Delong, 2007, p. 8) in order to attend

to their families, they are often “stigmatized for taking advantage of them” (p. 8) or

“marginalized” (Northouse, 2013, p. 355) and as William (2010) observes, they “often find

reentry difficult and often enter at a lower level than the level they left” (as cited in Northouse,

2013, p. 355).

Why Are Women Underrepresented In Elite Leadership Roles 3

Additionally, the absence of women in leadership roles, Bowles and McGinn (2005)

argue, is related to the very fact that “they are less likely than men…to promote themselves for

leadership positions” (p. 357). The reality being that as Rudman (1998) contends, “women face

significant gender biases and social disincentives when they self-promote. Unlike men…self-

promoting women are seen as less socially attractive and less hirable” (as cited in Northouse,

2013, p. 357). Here, a number of brilliant observations by Small et al (2007) and Bowles and

McGinn (2005) hold that “people must negotiate with others to access the right positions,

experiences, opportunities, resources, and assistance in both the professional and domestic

spheres. Not only are women less likely to negotiate than men are...the negotiations needed to

ascend the leadership hierarchy often are unstructured, ambiguous, and rife with gender triggers-

exactly the type of situation that particularly disadvantages women” (as cited in Northouse,

2013, p. 357).

The existence of the pernicious interrelated underlying dynamics of gender stereotypes,

bias and prejudice also negatively influence the leadership aspirations of women in the

organizational environment. Here, Eagly and Karau’s (2002) fascinating analysis holds that

“according to role congruity theory, the agentic qualities thought necessary in the leadership role

are incompatible with the predominantly communal qualities stereotypically associated with

women, thus resulting in prejudice against female leaders” (as cited in Northouse, 2013, pp. 358-

359). These stereotypical agentic qualities are enumerated by Deaux and Kite (1993) and

Heilman (2001) as “confidence, assertiveness, independence, rationality and decisiveness” (as

cited in Northouse, 2013, p. 358) as opposed to women who are “stereotyped with communal

characteristics such as concern for others, sensitivity, warmth, helpfulness, and nurturance” (p.

358).

Why Are Women Underrepresented In Elite Leadership Roles 4

Such presumed contradictory gender stereotypes promote the assumption that “women

are less qualified for elite leadership positions than men, and in harsh evaluations of effective

female leaders for not being female enough” (Northouse, 2013, p. 359). Consequently, aspiring

women leaders are continuously burdened by the existence of a “double standard” (Northouse,

2013, p. 362) that as Eagly and Carli (2003) observe, pressure them to “come across as

extremely competent but also as appropriately feminine, a set of standards men are not held to”

(as cited in Northouse, 2013, p. 362).

Furthermore, gender stereotypes strongly influence the opinions and actions of

organizational “decision makers” (Northouse, 2013, p. 359) who as Kanter (1977) proposes are

susceptible to engaging in “homosocial reproduction, a tendency for a group to reproduce itself

in its own image. People prefer similar others and report the most positive decisions about and

evaluations of people who are most similar to them, biases that can clearly disadvantage women

when male leaders are looking for replacement” (as cited in Northouse, 2013, p. 359). However,

amazingly and indeed tragically, the research of the Project Implicit (2006) and the findings of

the Implicit Association Test (2006) has found that “minority group members [women in this

case] tend to show less implicit preference for their own group [other aspiring women leaders]

than majority group members [male leaders] show for theirs” (as cited in Delong, 2007, p. 8).

Conclusion

Aspiring women leaders encounter numerous practical, structural,

psychological/cognitive and sociological obstacles on the path towards assuming elite leadership

roles. These hurdles begin with the existence of the ever present pressures associated with

women’s familial responsibilities constraining their career related options and flexibility. This

disadvantaged status also extends to sociological and psychological norms where the much

Why Are Women Underrepresented In Elite Leadership Roles 5

practiced organizational and societal practice of self-promotion is regarded as an inappropriate

characteristic for women. Finally, women’s leadership aspirations are continuously type-casted

by gender stereotypes leading to bias and prejudice in organizational and social environments

that uphold, promote and prize masculine and agentic relationships.

Why Are Women Underrepresented In Elite Leadership Roles 6

References

Bowles, H. R., & McGinn, K. L. (2005). Claiming authority: Negotiating challenges for women

leaders. In P. G. Northouse, Leadership: Theory and practice (sixth ed.) (p. 357).

Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Deaux, K., & Kite, M. (1993). Gender stereotypes. In P. G. Northouse, Leadership: Theory

and practice (sixth ed.) (p. 358). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Delong, T. (2007). A framework for pursuing diversity in the workplace. Harvard Business

School. LDR 6145 Managing a Diverse Workforce. Retrieved January 19, 2015 from

Northeastern University College of Professional Studies Lecture Notes Online Web site:

https://nuonline.neu.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?

course_id=_2252621_1&content_id=_7845334_1 .

Eagly, A. H., & Carli, L. L. (2003). The female leadership advantage: An evaluation of the

evidence. In P. G. Northouse, Leadership: Theory and practice (sixth ed.) (p. 362).

Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Eagly, A. H., & Karau, S. J. (2002). Role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders.

In P. G. Northouse, Leadership: Theory and practice (sixth ed.) (pp. 358-359).

Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Heilman, M. E. (2001). Description and prescription: How gender stereotypes prevent women’s

ascent up the organizational ladder. In P. G. Northouse, Leadership: Theory and

practice (sixth ed.) (p. 358). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Why Are Women Underrepresented In Elite Leadership Roles 7

Kanter, R. (1977). Men and women of the corporation. In P. G. Northouse, Leadership: Theory

and practice (sixth ed.) (p. 359). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Project Implicit (2006). Implicit Association Test. In T. Delong, A framework for pursuing

diversity in the workplace. Harvard Business School. LDR 6145 Managing a Diverse

Workforce. Retrieved January 19, 2015 from Northeastern University College of

Professional Studies Lecture Notes Online Web site:

https://nuonline.neu.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?

course_id=_2252621_1&content_id=_7845334_1 .

Rudman, L. A. (1998). Self-promotion as a risk factor for women: The costs and benefits of

counter-stereotypical impression management. In P. G. Northouse, Leadership: Theory

and practice (sixth ed.) (p. 357). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Small, D. A., Gelfand, M., Babcock, L., & Gettman, H. (2007). Who goes to the bargaining

table? The influence of gender and framing on the intuition of negotiation. In P. G.

Northouse, Leadership: Theory and practice (sixth ed.) (p. 357). Thousand Oaks, CA:

Sage Publications.

Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice (sixth ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA:

Sage Publications.

William, J. (2010). Reshaping the work-family debate: Why men and class matter. In P. G.

Northouse, Leadership: Theory and practice (sixth ed.) (p. 355). Thousand Oaks, CA:

Sage Publications.