Tesi Johnson, Gleaner Writer
LET'S FACE IT, long gone are the days when women were banished to a life of servitude to men. Nowadays, women are being afforded the leadership roles that were traditionally reserved for the masculine gender. Unfortunately, this advancement also brought vicious rumours, claims and comments, which outline why women were never meant to be leaders. A few of the more popular are:
* They "slept" their way to the top.
* They are not as efficient as men.
* They have lesbian tendencies.
* They secretly want to have dominatrix-style sex with their male subordinates (or they already do!)
* They are single and alone (or have poor family relations).
* They are not ruthless enough to make the strong decisions that will push the company forward.
* They are too emotional - they think with their hearts and not with their head.
* Their performance is tied in with their menstrual cycle.
* They are very petty, and take business issues personally.
Being the so-called "fairer gender" and all, do women really have what it takes to successfully lead a body down the road of success?
PSYCHOLOGIST'S COMMENTS
The way a woman's brain works, with respect to making decisions, is significantly different from how a man's does. Men tend to be more "mechanical" in their processing, whereas women take more of an intuitive approach. By intuition, a woman can more often come to quick, ready decisions.
Men however, tend to critically analyse and go through a whole process when making a decision. Often, this amounts to the moment being lost, by the time the decision has been made. Of course, in the case of both men and women, there are always exceptions. Nonetheless, both types of leaders are necessary: someone who can act on reliable instinct so the moment isn't lost, and another who will perform lengthy analysis before arriving at a decision.
Furthermore, nature positions women for leadership roles by
the ultimate fact that they are the cradlers of creation.
Dr. Asquith Reid, Clinical Psychologist
Some men, who have had to work under a female boss, shared their experience.
Kelvin Davids*, 24, Reporter
Honestly, it doesn't really matter to me, whether my superior is male or female. In fact, my boss is a woman, and she is probably cooler than all the male bosses I've had to work under. I think the fact that she is a woman does influence the way she performs as she is always seeking to promote the image of the strong career woman, in the material we put out. Whether you buy into it or not (I personally have no issue with the concept) you have to do it, because she is your boss! Furthermore, it's nice to have a boss whose "boobs" you can peek at every now and again.
Blair Reid*, 31, Bank Teller
Before my supervisor became my superior she was a teller just like me. After she got the new job she turned into a remarkable bitch. This illustrates my observation that women leaders often go to extreme lengths to exert their authority. I suppose this is necessary, since men often have an issue with answering to women, but I think that energy should be channelled into productivity, which will prove their ability, rather than a bad attitude. In my case, she is more of a boss than a leader, because she insists on exerting her authority. As such, women need to just get over their inferiority complex and do the job, because it was their ability to perform that got them the job, I assume, not their ability to scream and rant.
GOOD JOB
David Townsend*, 40, Mason
At the construction company I work for, the contractor is a woman. I don't think that is a common job for a woman to hold, but so far she has performed as well as any man could. Sometimes when we're on site, she even helps mix cement and lift blocks like she was doing the actual building! My boss before that, who was a man would have never done anything like that. He thought too highly of himself.
My boss is more organised than any man I've ever worked under - a trait that I think she has because she is female. Organisation is very important on a construction site. Furthermore, she takes care of her workers like they are her own children, and brings food and water for us, whereas the previous male boss would have just left us to starve.
( * Names changed to protect identity)
