GENDER STEREOTYPE AND WOMEN MANAGEMENT: A CASE STUDY OF BANKING SECTOR
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.0 Background of the Study
The controversy over gender equity and equality has, over time become a recurrent and hydra-headed global discourse. It is a common knowledge that a gap continues to exist between the males and females in occupational, educational and general career aspirations as a result of socio-cultural stereotypes which imposes a serious limitation not only to the effort of women empowerment but also on their contribution to national development.
In Nigeria, the case is not different. Men continue to dominate at different levels of education, employment, career, entrepreneurship and other well-rewarding professions. A lacuna persistently exists in terms of rights, status, privileges, and advantages of men and women in Nigeria. It is also pathetic to remark that the female gender is discriminated against in many spheres of human activity and across nations of the world owing to reasons that are very complex, ranging from cultural stereotype to some socio-economic reasons that have no basis in objective reality.
Gender stereotype explains the roles or a pattern of behaviour placed on a particular sex by the society, mostly beliefs, illogical ideas, and false phrases. It is referred as collection of commonly held beliefs or opinions about behaviours and activities considered by society as appropriate for males and females. It is an overgeneralization, a category concept that is learned, factually incorrect, rigid and persistent (Ashmore & Del Boca, 1981).
According to (Perry and Pauletti, 2011), gender stereotypes are people’s beliefs about how the sexes differ (descriptive stereotypes) or should differ (prescriptive stereotypes). For the purpose of the present review, gender stereotype refers to socio-cultural beliefs and practices, which tend to limit the women’s rights to education and overall empowerment.
Gender stereotyping occurs when individuals perceive and assess others based on general expectations they hold about men and women (Talbot, 2003; Dennhag et al., 2019). Traditionally, gender roles were based on division of labor, thus associating women with communal traits due to them commonly acting as caregivers, while men tended to be associated with attributes around power or leadership (Diekman & Goodfriend, 2006).
While in recent years, studies have found a slow change in gender stereotypes, especially in regards to women (Diekman & Goodfriend, 2006; Lenton, Sedikides & Bruder, 2009), they continue to cause disadvantages. In particular, women striving for leadership positions are faced with backlash effects for displaying behavior that is considered agentic and assertive, and thus stereotypically male (Rudman & Phelan, 2008).
Moreover, to this day there is a tendency to ‘think manager – think male’, indicating that both men and women consider managerial roles as predominantly masculine (Schein, Mueller et al., 1989; Schein & Mueller, 1992). According to Ely and Padavic (2020), despite the progress of women obtaining higher positions in organizations in the past decades, there remains a gender inequality at the workplace.
However, as the perspective on gender stereotypes is undergoing change, there are also some studies pointing towards opportunities for women in this context. For instance, there is a general belief that if women do reach leadership positions, it implies higher competence on their part, hence hinting at them being much more effective than their male colleagues (Rosette & Tost, 2010).
In addition, a rising awareness for the challenges women encounter in the workplace means an increasing implementation of supportive measures, such as women quotas (Krook, 2016; Sojo et al., 2016; Unzueta, Gutiérrez, & Ghavami, 2010). Although quite controversial, there is quantitative evidence for the effectiveness of including more women in high managerial positions (McKinsey & Company, 2007). Other measures include leadership development programmes with a focus on aspects such as networking, mentoring or trainings (Hopkins, O’Neil, Passarelli & Bilimoria, 2008).
Despite the fact that women have been moving up the hierarchical ladder of organizations during recent decades (see Eagly, 2003; Wirth, 2001), women are still under-represented in management positions in comparison to men all over the world (Powell, 1999; for an overview, see Schein, 2001). For example, in the United States women currently represent 15.7 percent of corporate officers in the 500 largest companies (the “Fortune 500”) of the country, an increase from 12.5 percent in 2000 and 8.7 percent in 1995.
Almost 5.2 percent of the top earning corporate officers in these companies are women. This represents an increase from 1996 when 1.9 percent of the top corporate earners were women (Catalyst, 2002). The under-representation of women in management positions is described as a “glass ceiling,” a barrier so subtle that it is transparent but simultaneously so strong that it prevents women and ethnic minorities from moving up in the management hierarchy (Morrison & Von Glinow, 1990)
Gender stereotypes resulting in a perceived incongruity between the feminine and the leader roles can be seen as one possible explanation for this phenomenon (Eagly & Karau, 2002). From a sociocultural perspective, stereotypes about women and men are based on observations of their behaviors in gender-typical social roles (e.g., breadwinner, homemaker) and contain consensual beliefs about the attributes of women and men (Eagly, 1987).
Research has consistently demonstrated that men are generally seen as more agentic and more competent than women, whereas women are seen as more expressive and more communal than men (e.g., Diekman & Eagly, 2000; Williams & Best, 1990). In leadership research an analogous dichotomy of leadership characteristics can be found. For example, a differentiation between “initiating structure” and “consideration” is common (for an overview, see Schriesheim, Cogliser, Neider, Fleishman, & James, 1998).
Cann and Siegfried (1990) examined the relationship between those two types of leadership styles on the onehand and feminine and masculine behaviors on the other. The results showed that consideration is perceived as more feminine and initiating structure is perceived as more masculine.
1.2 Statement of the problem
In recent years, the inequalities pertaining to women at work have gained popularity. It represents an issue that is commonly discussed and which people are arguably aware of, with well-known individuals such as Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook, addressing it in her book ‘Lean In’ (2015). There, she discusses the disadvantages women face in the corporate world and how to work around them to be successful.
The awareness of the difficulties of getting women into leadership positions can be further demonstrated by the increasing usage of organizational measures such as gender quotas (IDEA, 2009) and initiatives aimed specifically at women (i.e. ‘Women@PwC’, ‘Women@Deloitte’)1. Consequently, one would assume that the disadvantages women face in business are diminishing. Likewise, the measures described previously show that we are aware of the stereotypes and the resulting implicit bias concerning women.
Despite research indicating that there is a shift taking place, with the traditional view of women as communal caregivers slowly extending to adapt to their contemporary social roles (Diekman & Goodfriend, 2006; Johnston & Diekman, 2015), gender stereotypes still disadvantage women.
In fact, those who strive to occupy leadership positions are faced with negative sanctions both for staying inside the stereotype as well as stepping outside of it (Phelan & Rudman, 2010). This indicates that the common perception of women is still an inhibiting factor for those who strive for a successful career within organizations.