Gender & Leadership

When thinking about this topic, I am reminded of Sheryl Sandberg's TED talk about why we have too few women leaders. I remember her saying that women generally second-guess themselves a great amount of the time and contribute their success to others, while men generally possess more confidence and contribute their success to themselves. At first I did not fully grasp this notion. But when I put it in context with my life, I could understand it better. For example, my brother may seem very cocky and a little arrogant at times, but he has a great deal of confidence, allowing him to be more willing to try new things and readily face obstacles. I too have confidence, but not to the extent that my brother has. I sometimes feel that had I believed in myself a little more or tried to go into things without thinking the worse would happen, I could've accomplished more in the past. This certainly is not true for ALL men or women, but I often do think that women are a little more mindful and aware of what people think of them, and so, they sometimes let factors like other's people's opinions or even their own insecurities hold them back (I don't know if there is any statistic on this - just my personal opinion).

LIke we've discussed in class before, I personally do think that when it comes to men and women in leadership positions, people will often have more respect and liking towards a man in a position of power than towards a woman in the same position. Women are often stereotyped as being "bitchy", nagging, or constantly complaining, and so people tend to favor a man in a leadership role. I've attended seven schools throughout my education, having both male and female principals. But I can say that the male principals were favored by students a lot more over the female principals. I really do not think this was just a coincidence, as I felt that both the male and female principals were equal in manners when it came to running the school and taking disciplinary actions.

In order to reach their full potential, I believe that more women need to start developing the confidence and determination in school and the workplace that so many women already possess. And like previous posts, I think that women need to demand the same respect as their male counterparts in order to dispel these stereotypes and be taken seriously so that they are truly valued for their work and accomplishments.