Donald Tironi
Concepts of Leadership
Amb. Kamal
10/22/99
HW-4
- Introduction
- This draft is about a female’s role in leadership. This draft will first discuss the traditional roles for females. Then we will explore the modern view of women and their roles in leadership. We will look at how the roles have changed, and how they have stayed the same.
- Thesis
- Throughout history there have been traditional gender roles. The males have been seen as having one role in society, while women have been seen to have the opposing role. To understand the question of a woman’s role today, we must first examine what the traditional gender roles were. Today, those gender roles have changed. This part if the draft will state and expand on the ideas of the old and new gender roles.
- Traditional Gender Roles
- The traditional gender roles are very clear cut and simple. The males are the supporters of the family. The females are the homemakers. There was no ability to cross-over. Whenever you see a picture of a typical 1960’s family, you see these gender roles. The male is normally in some form of business attire, denoting his job. The female is normally in a dress and always has on an apron, denoting her motherly homemaking qualities. Everyone believed this, and the gender roles could be seen throughout all avenues of life.
- Television, media/public life, and even the toy industry reflected these stereotypical gender roles. Each, in their own way, supported these traditional roles. Also, each helped to promote and prolong thinking along the lines of gender roles. How each accomplished this task was simple, but the impact each had on society was profound.
Television
Television, along with the other factors, did not create gender roles, but they helped emphasize them. It was very hard to find a television show where the lead female character was anything other than a housewife. This is especially true in the pre-1970 era. The popular shows in the 1960’s were Leave It to Beaver, Donna Reed, I Love Lucy, and other such shows. Even though these shows had different characters and different plots, they all had one thing in common. On all of the shows, the roles of the husband and wife were the same. Each husband went to work and earn the money to support the family while the wife stayed home and baked cookies. People sat down once a week and watch the typical American family, in the typical gender roles function. As people watched this, they assumed that these were the correct role for males and females.
Media/Public Life
Another venue in which gender roles were exhibited is in the media. When the nightly news came on, there was always a man behind the anchor desk. There was no such thing as a female news anchor. Murphy Brown was a nonexistent dream. The news industry, as well as all the media outlets such as newspapers, magazines, and such was predominately written by men.
For the purposes of this draft public life will be defined as a political life. Women were nonexistent in the political arena. In the 1960s, the thought of a woman running for President was ludicrous. Women were not seen as strong enough or capable of leading a nation. Until the mid-1970s women were not seen as capable of leading anything, but a house. Females were seen as the inferior gender. Also their decision-making capability is questioned. Women were said to be incapable of deciding to go to war. Women were just seen as incapable as having the skills to lead.
Toys
Even the toy industry showed the gender stereotypes. The proper toys for a young girl in the 1960s was the Easy-Bake oven. The little boys toy were toy soldiers and the like. The girl was brought up to be a homemaker and the boy was brought up to be a leader.
Antithesis
Today, gender roles are almost non-existent. Men and women are treated more equally and are seen as having the ability to accomplish any task, especially leadership tasks. The days when the ideas of a woman being incapable of leading and making decisions are gone. In today’s society, we see many examples of women in many different types of leadership positions. They have been able to acquire positions that before where "off limits" to females.
One of the best examples of female leadership is Geraldine Ferraro. Geraldine Ferraro is a former Senator from New York. She was one of the first female Senators in the United States Congress. That was a huge accomplishment in itself, but she accomplished something even greater. In 1984, she became the first woman on a National ticket. She was selected as Walter Mondale’s running mate. Geraldine Ferraro, a female, was running for Vice-President of the United States. Just a few years ago that would have been ridiculous. Also this year we can see the emergence of women in public life. We have Hillary Clinton contemplating a run for a New York Senate seat. Also Christine Todd Whitman is considered to be a possible running mate for the Republican Presidential candidate. Elizabeth Dole accomplished the biggest step. She ran for the Republican nomination, and it was taken seriously. She was able to do something that no other woman was able to accomplish. There is also Secretary of State Albright. She is the first female Secretary of State. Secretary of State is one of the most prestigious positions in the United States government. She is in a very influential position, and a lot to say concerning U.S. foreign policy.
There are also many women in smaller leadership positions. Two categories I looked at earlier were television and the media. We have seen many changes in those two areas. One of the biggest changes is in gender roles. Let us look at television first
Television
Today’s shows a definitely unlike Donna Reed. There is no typical family with typical gender roles. Women are just as likely to be lead characters today. Their characters are also just as likely as the male characters to be successful business people. On one show a female is the executive producer of a highly rated sports show. The female character is a lead on the show, and she is in a highly powerful leadership position. On another show, a female is running a political campaign. Another area traditionally reserved for men. Today’s television shows the trend of females in more high profile positions. There is a belief in today’s culture that women can do and be anything they want. Television is echoing that ideology.
Media
Another place where women have increased their positions in leadership positions. It is very common today to find women behind the anchor desk. In fact a male and a female today anchor most news shows. Barbara Walters is one of the best known examples of this new female leadership in the media. She makes over one million dollars. That was a tax bracket primarily for men, and women were thought to never be able to make it. However many women today are in that tax bracket. There was even a television show that featured a woman as a news anchor, Mary Tyler Moore. Today’s media has many Mary Tyler Moores.
Conclusion
There is a definite trend in females going into leadership roles. Increasingly women are taking spots that were traditionally reserved for men. Women are becoming executives in large companies, political forces, and are being seen as equal. It is not uncommon today to see women running for political office, and doing that successfully. We need to look no further than our own class to see the new trend for women. There are many females studying to be leaders in tomorrow’s world. They are training to be diplomats. A diplomat is a high level leadership position, and these females are trying to become capable of these tasks.
The new trend is going to have a huge impact on the future. The ideas of gender and leadership are going to be rewritten. It has traditionally been men that were the leaders, but that is not the case anymore. Women are increasing their power, and that will help them take more positions of leadership. I fell that soon there will be as female CEOs as there are male CEOs. I also feel that there will be a female president within the next fifty years. What are your predictions for the future of females in leadership postions.
