Gender equality is frequently overlooked in society, although it might be the key object in economic growth, employment, and social cohesion. The lack of women in managerial positions might be explained by differences between male and female management and various social and economic factors. The essay will analyze the issue through the four general educational lenses. The four general lenses connect to various aspects of the issue: the history aspect, the difference in the relationship with work viewed through the lens of humanities. Furthermore, observation through the social lenses could explain if there is a connection with the social role of women, and the natural sciences could be used in determining the core reasons behind gender inequality.
Although historically, women are new to the managerial functions, the impact of women that already are running successful businesses on modern society is immeasurable. While some may think that men are more likely to run a successful company, women have proved to be effective problem-solvers. However, women did not engage enough with the management functions through time. The matter could be explained by the fact that changing a male individual in the manager’s position to a female was perceived by the public as a change in the overall company and the company’s priorities (Tominc et al., 2017).
Around the 1990s, due to the stereotypes, women were perceived by social and organizational psychologists as lacking in human capital required for effective top management (Tominc et al., 2017). Over the past two decades, women explored the entrepreneurship and management area despite the lack of rights and educational possibilities generally available to men. Because of disparity and inequality, women could not contribute to the overall social and economic development the same way men do (Sajjad et al., 2020). The conclusion that follows is that gender inequality negatively affects economic and social development.
The humanities lenses focus on analyzing human actions and works and their impact. The differences between female and male activities in management include the overall style of administration and different ways to approach a problem. However, gender differences usually do not affect the individual’s satisfaction with a job. Although job satisfaction is considered equal, the conditions of the work for women are significantly different.
Women are frequently paid less due to female participation in the labor market and gender segregation (Castellano & Roca, 2020). The study described by Castellano and Roca (2020) shows that the lack of females in managerial positions in many countries could be caused by a lower level of education among women. Evidently, in most organizations, an ideal expert is generally regarded as a man (Jännäri et al., 2018). Women usually are more effective in female-dominated or female-oriented settings; the high level of unemployment across women could be the reason for fewer women in managerial positions
The social science lens focuses on human actions in the social environment and their interactions with other people. The nature of the managerial work tasks often requires the manager to spend more time with the work, possibly taking some of the tasks home (Tominc et al., 2017). Due to their social roles, women, in general, spend more time doing home-related work, so the addition of tasks from work could lead to a household conflict.
Additionally, excessive responsibilities could result in professional burnout. Castellano and Roca (2020) proposed that reducing social inequalities and giving men an equal role in domestic responsibilities should be encouraged. In addition to being paid less, women are faced with the burdens of single-handedly carrying the families’ duties, so they are more likely to choose home and family rather than a career.
Applying the natural science lens to the case determined that the lack of women in managerial positions is explained by core reasons that include historical stereotypes of women being less effective managers than men. The other reasons are being paid less and the pressure from the social roles. The lack of women in managerial positions could be improved by more educated women working together and welcoming more female candidates.
References
Castellano, R. and Rocca, A. (2020), “On the unexplained causes of the gender gap in the labour market”, International Journal of Social Economics, 47(7), 933-949. Web.
Jännäri, J., Poutanen, S. and Kovalainen, A. (2018), “Gendering expert work and ideal candidacy in Finnish and Estonian job advertisements“, Gender in Management, 33(7), 544-560. Web.
Sajjad, M., Kaleem, N., Chani, M.I. and Ahmed, M. (2020), “Worldwide role of women entrepreneurs in economic development“, Asia Pacific Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 14(2), 151-160. Web.
Tominc, P., Šebjan, U., and Širec, K. (2017) “Perceived gender equality in managerial positions in organizations” Organizacija, 50(2), 132-149. Web.
