A511.8.3.RB – Gender
Rosabeth
Moss Kanter (2010) raised great awareness regarding gender-based
discrimination. Although this type of discrimination started many years ago,
today we can still see it and very little progress has been made. There are
many laws that were created to establish equality between men and women. Title
VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was created against any basis of race,
color, religion, national origin, or sex discrimination. Moreover, the U.S.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (n.d.) states that The Equal Pay Act of
1963 amends to “make it illegal to pay different wages to men and women if they
perform equal work in the same workplace.” Ms. Kanter believes not much change
has occur in the last sixteen years. According to her, the reason women have
not shockingly made an improvement is because positions require a dedicated
person 24/7. The only portion Yukl did not mentioned or coincided with Ms.
Kanter is about the fact that women are expected to have other priorities in
life, such as being a mother and raise their kids.
Additionally,
I agree with Ms. Kanter’s point of view on discrimination happening “informally
behind the scenes.” According to Gary Yukl, “gender stereotypes have been
slowly changing, but the belief that men are more qualified to be leaders still
persist in segments of the population and it remains strong in countries where
it is supported by cultural values” (2013, p. 383). Woman are not given a
choice and they voice is silenced. Both Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Gary Yukl
believe there is greater found in the overlap of men and women than on their
differences. Ultimately, Kanter (2010) would like to find equality for both and
look after the greater good of an organization.
Moreover,
although Gary Yukl found a way to describe advantages over being a women or a
men, I disagree there should be such a difference when both individual perform
the same tasks. As the Harvard Business Review showed in their interview with
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, she refuses to compare men and women. She believes, “men
and women cannot be compared because they are disproportionately found, but men
are found on higher risk jobs than women” (Kanter, 2010). In continuation to
her interview, she reflected on one of the recessions the United States
suffered once. When that happened, she remembers how men were the first ones to
be laid off, more than women. She cannot explain the reason why that happen but
she speculates it could have been they like how women work better, maybe women
were cost effective to have in an organization, or maybe women were really good
at negotiating. Nevertheless, “greedy and demanding nature of the very top
jobs” (Kanter, 2010) that causes gender-based discrimination.
Today,
organizations hold individuals accountable to their characteristics and they
have a preference for “social similarity” as Kanter (2010) mentioned. Consequently,
Yukl (2013) finds, “women are more concerned with consensus building,
inclusiveness, and interpersonal relations; they are more willing to develop
and nurture subordinates and share power with them. Women are believed to have
more empathy, rely more on intuition, and be more sensitive to feelings and the
quality of relationships” (p. 383). For that same reason, Ms. Kanter stated
that her goal is to “give women more voice and have them speak up” (2010).
Interestingly, Alice Rivlin the founding director of the Congressional Budget
Office (CBO), shares her thoughts about the importance of letting your voice be
heard. Ms. Rivlin supports the act of saying what you want and meaning what you
say, especially when it comes to women. Towards the end of the video, Alice
Rivlin quotes Warren Buffett saying, “I have often been sorry that I didn’t
speak up, I have never been sorry that I did, even when I was wrong” (2011).
In conclusion,
I support the idea to help any kind of minority to reach their goal and
exterminate discrimination once and for all. Rosabeth Moss Kanter points out
excellent ideas and she is right when she mentioned diversity playing an
imperative role when it comes to organizations. Since it is believed that women
do not always have the “same stature as authority men do,” this could easily
affect women. Because they are not valued in the same extent and as a result,
resentment is created. “To make full use of the talent represented by the
diverse members of the organization, it is essential to eliminate constraints
that prevent qualified people from selection for important positions” (Yukl,
2013, p. 389).
References
Kanter, R. M. (2010), Women Ambition and (Still) the Pay Gap, Harvard Business Review.
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhquUOlBuOY&feature=youtu.be&t=5s
Laws Enforced by
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/index.cfm
Rivlin,
A. (2011). On leadership: Speaking up [video film]. Micromanagement Stories. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/posttv/national/on-leadership-alice-rivlin-on-speaking-up/2011/08/04/gIQA29nOuI_video.html
Yukl,
G. (2013). Leadership in organizations.
(8th ed.) Dorling Kindersley / Pearson Education, Inc.
No comments:
Post a Comment