Insights into gender and the workplace.

The past few decades have been characterized by significant increases in the number of women in business and other professional careers. It has been about 30 years since women first began entering the workplace in large numbers. Women are now more than half of all college students and about half of all law and medical students.

Accompanying this trend there has been an increase in the number of women occupying leadership positions as well as managerial/administrative positions in work organizations. Women are an important presence in a number of industries such as film. It is a measure of how far women have come since the groundbreaking nomination of Sandra Day O'Conner that in the debate held over Harriet Miers no one suggested that she shouldn't be confirmed because of her gender.

How do men and women differ in their methods of communication?

It is tempting to assume that the noted differences between men and women would automatically favor men but it doesn't. In today's organizations, flexibility, teamwork, trust, and information sharing are replacing rigid structures, competitive individualism, control, and secrecy.

The best leaders listen, motivate, and provide support to their people.

The leadership communication styles women typically use can make them better than men at negotiating.

Here are some communication strengths vs. weaknesses of female leaders:

* Enhances teamwork vs. blurs boundaries

* Fosters accountability through peer pressure vs. weakens accountability through lack of supervision

* Encourages innovation through collaboration vs. encourages complacency through lack of competition

* Improves quality through attention to process vs. responds slowly because process needs to be worked through

* Increases opportunities for continuous improvement because of open access to information vs. risks divulging confidential information 

Here are some communication strengths vs. weaknesses of male leaders:

* Sets strong boundaries vs. isolates employees and departments

* Assigns clear responsibilities and accountabilities vs. deters collaboration and teamwork

* Responds rapidly vs. responds inflexibly 

* Weeds out weak performers vs. discourages risks through competition

* Keeps sensitive information confidential vs. starves creativity and innovation through lack of information

Despite these presented conclusions, studies indicate some differences in the inherent communication styles of women and men. Women encourage participation, share power and information, and attempt to enhance follower's self worth. Women prefer to manage through inclusion and rely on their charisma, expertise, contacts, and interpersonal skills to influence others. Men, on the other hand, are more likely to use a directive command and control style.

Do gender differences in communication patterns ultimately relate to power?

Problem solving, influencing superiors, delegating responsibility and other taking charge skills are key components of interpersonal power. Researchers suggest that women, robbed of this interpersonal power in companies, must rely more on their positional power, their place in the hierarchy of their organizations.

Yet, as women rely on the formal authority of their position for their influence base, they comprise approximately 16% of Fortune 500 corporate officers, therefore, their positional power is limited.

What are some of the differences in leadership styles between men and women?

An extensive review of the research suggests that similarities in leadership styles tend to outweigh the differences and that women prefer democratic leadership styles whereas men feel more comfortable with a directive style.

Researchers qualify these findings as seen in the tendency for female leaders to be more democratic than males decline when women are in male dominated jobs. Group norms and masculine stereotypes of leaders override personal preferences.

The similarities among men and women managers are surprising. Because of career self selection and organization selection people who choose careers in law enforcement or real estate have a lot in common, so do individuals who choose managerial or supervisory roles. Similarly, organizations tend to recruit and promote into leadership positions people who project leadership attributes.

How can gender stereotypes affect an organization?

Companies may suffer by not developing and retaining some of the best talent which is key in remaining competitive in the global business world.

Senior executives' perceptions of women and men are more informed by gender based stereotypes than facts. This leads to misrepresentation of the true talents of women and contributes to the startling gap in business leadership. The effects of gender based stereotyping can be devastating, potentially undermining women's capacity to lead, and posing serious challenges to women's career advancement.

Women are stereotyped as better at feminine "caretaking skills" such as supporting and rewarding. Men are perceived as better at conventionally masculine "taking charge" skills such as influencing superiors and delegating responsibility.

The male held stereotype that that dominates current corporate thinking is that men are better problem solvers than women. Since men far outnumber women in top management positions, (women make up less than 2% of the US Fortune 500 and 1000 CEOs) this may keep women at management and professional positions where they hold over half of these positions.

While the "glass ceiling" may or may not still exist, women today are strong enough to shatter it. As more and more women are entering the world of big business, issues of extreme gender stereotyping are becoming more evident. While in the past these gender stereotypes have been regarded as negative, in the last few years some stereotypes are helping women gain access to top level jobs.

The most positive of current female stereotypes is that of integrity. In general, women are seen as having more integrity than men. As pressure on ethics in big business rises, women are slowly gaining access to higher positions due to this stereotype.

What kinds of training sessions can be offered to facilitate the understanding of different communication styles and examine gender-based assumptions?

Despite the fact that companies have shown an increased commitment to diversity, inclusion and the advancement of women in the workplace, the representation of women in leadership remain stagnate.

Companies need to take active steps to combat stereotyping by instituting more rigorous and unambiguous evaluation processes as well as educating managers and executives about stereotyping. The achievements of women leaders need to be showcased, particularly those in male dominated fields.

How can an organization create a culture that conducive to equal opportunities for both sexes?

Gender mainstreaming is a process by which a company considers gender equality issues in all of its activities, program's, and policies. Rather than having the focus only on women, the relative conditions of men and women are examined in order to highlight differences. Once such differences are identified, something may be done about the inequalities. Development of a gender sensitive workplace should be viewed as an overall company policy which strives to improve gender equality and enable women to participate equally in decision making.

Promoting a gender sensitive workplace is the main goal of gender mainstreaming. Being gender sensitive means that the gender based differences between men and women are acknowledged and transparent. Once acknowledged, the company takes into consideration how such differences affect the all the companies abilities. Through this process the issues that help or hinder men and women in the company are identified. Very often, as women face particular constraints, the focus of being gender sensitive is frequently on women. At the very least, the company can try to ensure that it does not worsen or perpetuate inequalities between women and men by ignoring gender based constraints, or expecting women to act exactly like men.

Those companies with a supportive, equitable business culture enjoy better financial results, improved market share, and improved access to a growing, well educated segment of the workforce.

Yael Hellman is a professor of organizational leadership at Woodbury University. Reach her at [phone] or yael.hellman@ woodbury.edu.