Management, Women in

Underlying Patterns of Gender Identity

Karen Legge notes that the discursive construction of the “problem” of women in organizations suggests that men are being considered the norm against which women need to be compared. This provides an important foundation for the development of a body of knowledge that attempts to identify the positive features that are overlooked in the assessment of women's suitability as managers, and also highlights how personal and organizational characteristics inhibit women's opportunities. For instance, career interruptions due to childbearing are seen as lack of commitment, hence it is generalized that women's commitment to the workplace is not as solid as men's due to the timing and spacing of their absences.

Furthermore, the idea of a ruthless “go-getter” seems to pervade notions of successful managers. As a result, the presence of women in management is conflictive, because it breaks with the patterns of subordination and “invisibilization” that have traditionally affected them in both social and organizational settings.

Two central elements of the debate on women in management are assessment of managerial leadership and opportunities of career progression. On the one hand, differences between male and female styles are considered to be linked to effectiveness in the workplace. Women's collaborative/participatory style is considered less assertive than men's tough, autocratic approach. Similarly, differences in the way power is exerted are salient; while women generally focus on personal power, men focus on structural power. In terms of career progression, barriers to gender equality, such as the glass ceiling, occupational segregation, benevolent sexism, and other forms of adverse [Page 888]treatment, constrain women's achievement in the workplace by limiting their access and visibility in the managerial arena.

The work of Beverly Alimo-Metcalfe has focused on leadership differences between men and women. Some key findings are that women are more likely to adopt a transformational leadership style, while men are more likely to adopt a transactional leadership style. This difference is fundamental to the way men and women are perceived to be effective managers, as transformational leadership focuses on people, while transactional leadership focuses on outcomes.

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