This question was texted to me by an unknown source a few days ago. It was accompanied by a video of a prominent football player and Senator Josh Hawley from Missouri telling women that it would be beautiful if they stepped aside so that men can be in charge. Now look, I am not going to take the question seriously. It is just a little too pathetic and sad to see two powerful men suggesting that women should let them have even more unfettered power. However, there is an underlying question that does beg to be addressed. Why do people think men should be unquestioned leaders?
It is a great question, because despite common beliefs, research repeatedly finds that there are very few behavioral differences between male and female leaders. Men and women leaders, however, are perceived in radically different ways. When women use so called "masculine" styles of leadership, they are rated poorly, but when they use so called "feminine" styles of leadership, they are rated as incompetent. This phenomenon was labeled Damned if you do, Doomed if you don't by Catalyst.
So, while men and women lead more or less the same, they are treated very differently.
Think Leader/Think Man
Last year I asked my students to identify a leader who fit the criteria for four types of leaders: Charismatic, Institutional, Transformational, and Transactional. Every leader they selected was male. Most of the leaders were white. When I pointed this out, the students were horrified. They thought they were open minded. The majority of the students were women who expected that someday they would be in leadership roles. Yet when I asked them to identify leaders, they identified males. This phenomenon is so widespread that my friend and leadership expert Sarah Riforgiate has published multiple articles showing how this type of bias emerges in everyday classroom interactions.
Stereotypes and Leadership
This morning I was driving my daughter to school and out of the blue she said "I hate that all these people are claiming that Kamala Harris used to be a prostitute." Apparently there is a whole group of people who believe that Harris was a prostitute in her early life, although they also seemed determined to believe that she never could have possibly worked at McDonald's.
Back in July, a diverse group of experts and I got together and predicted that this would happen. We even posted a stereotype tracker that people could use as an educational tool. I described the larger phenomenon of working women being called prostitutes in an even earlier blog.
I don't object to people selecting someone else because they prefer his policies. I strongly object to them not selecting a candidate because of stereotypes.
Women Make Great Leaders
Women have worked hard as a whole over the last several decades to be better people. They are highly educated, they are community oriented, they know when to lead, when to delegate, and when to push. And while women are not more ethical or moral than men, there are higher expectations. My observations is that people will step up when expectations are high.
Should Fragile Male Leaders Step Aside?
So with this in mind, why would we ask women to step aside so that men can have more power? What kind of man would even ask that question? I will tell you what kind. Only a deeply insecure man with a fragile sense of masculinity would ask women to step aside. Clearly, this type of man does not think he can compete against women leaders. This type of man needs to step aside so someone more competent and confident can step up. Like, for example, a strong and competent Woman.
Debbie S. Dougherty is a farmer, writer, professor and consultant. Her website is debbiedougherty.com
Freya Clark is a child artist who created the artwork for this blog.
I say fragile men are the ones who should step aside. Stereotypes do not serve us well. Bust ‘em!
Well said, Debbie. The research is clear that women leaders are damned and doomed by sexist and racist stereotypes, not by a lack of brilliance.