Power and Gender

Doors open to men more than women and offer status and prestige. Job markets are segmented structures. Harassment does occur - insidiously, overtly and coercively, normally, covertly and pervasively. Your boss is unlikely to turn to you and say frankly

You know I have a real difficulty responding to assertive women. They always appear as a strident virago to me and I end up unable to confront what they are saying directly. I think it is a symptom of age... maybe I am too much of a gentleman.

How would you reply?

Pre-defined gender stereotyping and expectations feature in conversations and interactions with men and women differentiated.

Organisational metaphors stress rationality, toughness, strategic focus, risk-taking, decisiveness and determination. Women in such a world can try to adopt and project these values but may be then trapped and labelled as being "more like men than men". The Iron-Lady challenges the norm and is criticised as being too assertive. She challenges the stereotype and becomes a stereotype. There are few organisations with cultures which embrace a female sterotype reversing the balance and offering an advantage to women.

Bias is evident in symbolic processes, language, conversations, everyday rituals and stories that shape culture. Some are deliberate e.g. the male joke, the complement about a woman's dress, going for a pint after work, the rugby club network. Women or even a non-participating man (the party pooper) can be left out in the cold.

If the conversation ranges across subjects which the woman cannot participate in then important exchanges are missed- key insights and information. The inner-clique and rumour-mongers talk at the bar, in the WC. Such processes enable men to shape the power relations.

Situations such as

• working late together and the man being sexually attracted to the woman
• the women being the expert and perceived as being ascendant over the man
• the woman not being able to do overtime at short notice because of child-minder arrangements (the man merely rings home)

....all offer practical problems for women and male-female interaction.

Men and women can adopt conscious and unconscious strategies in their management of gender - all difficult to separate from everyday life. The smile, the complement, eye contact, the humorous aside, a touch, old-fashioned language and gentlemanly behaviour are the stuff of warm, responsive, trust relationships. In situations of zealous political correctness some of these can become dangerous.

Men and women engage in natural stereotypical behaviour at home and at work and this can influence career success. Morgan offers several cameos of strategies typical of men when securing ascendency over women in the organisation. These range from the little boy lost, to the jock and the grandfather.

What strategies are open to women?

The following descriptions are themselves stereotypical. They nevertheless are approaches women can adopt. Whether they enable the woman to break through the glass-ceiling into the club of the Boardroom is another matter.

• The tough business woman can bring together a coalition of male followers.
• The MD's wife or (female) PA can exercised power behind the scenes.
• Women may seek to blend in, be good listeners and confidants. They are then in a position where through nurturing and the stroking of egos they are influential.
• The woman who is one of the lads may be accepted, seen as able to take the rough with the smooth, not accept any nonsense, have a laugh and be able to stand up for herself. But this player has to be careful about maintaining her independence and not compromising her standing. She can easily become the butt of jokes and asides about her sexuality. If the women is not attractive to these men the jokes turn to her shape or her over-sensitivity.
• The woman may set out to become the seducer of men in key positions who become her sponsor or mentor.