Location: Home > Publications >The leadership Challenge: Women in Management (Hannah Piterman © March 2008)
10.Successful Women
10.1 What it takes
There are extraordinary women who are able to successfully navigate all domains of corporate life. They display a heightened awareness of their environment which enhances their capacity for judgment. These women exhibit a robust sense of self. Many attribute their success in masculine settings to the influence of significant family members and social background. Belief in self has often been instilled early in childhood relationships with one or both parental figures, often a father whose encouragement has been a major influence on career decisions and the resilience to pursue ambitions outside traditional boundaries.
I grew up in a boys' world...I fitted into the boys' club...and it was absolutely no problem. So I could then and I can now. (Female senior manager)
I walk in and when they [the men] say things I just let them know, 'You'd have to do better than that'. I grew up with [lots of] brothers. (Female senior manager)
I was brought up by my father to believe that I can do whatever I wanted to do. I never accepted boundaries that society or organisations put on you. I agree that there are challenges but it's your own personal mettle of whether you let them stay as challenges and obstacles to overcome. (Female senior manager)
I was an only child. I had a close relationship with my mother... My father gave me a lot. I was flying with my dad. I was out as a glider with all the guys. I'm used to being one of the boys. (Female manager)
Men can be awestruck by women with talents normally associated with masculine prowess and reserved for men.
Her parents didn't put a fence around her. She wasn't constrained by her social environment...and wow, she's actually got the intellectual horse power and people skills to bang on through. (Male senior manager)
These women demonstrate great stamina, sacrifice, flexibility, and an enormous will to survive in the face of gruelling demands and hostile environments.
I've sacrificed my personal life to get there.You couldn't [as a woman] get a senior role in Brisbane. I moved to Sydney and Perth... I've had a hard time maintaining a long distance relationship.Weekends are not enough. (Female senior manager)
Whatever happens with the bad stuff, I am an optimist in my approach to life. I am smiley and happy. I have an inner anchor. (Female senior manager)
It's like a zoo and a jungle generally... Survival becomes a key part to your day which is not great because you are coming to work and you should be performing and driving the business forward. (Female manager)
It's water off a duck's back... I don't go off and sulk or anything like that. I just get on with what I have to do because you need that toughness... I just think that experience is quite invaluable as much as it [is] horrible. (Female manager)
I don't get copied into emails. He doesn't acknowledge my presence. In his space I don't exist. I have to laugh about it. (Female senior manager)
Some successful women are able to accommodate and accept the extremes of a 'blokey' environment without feeling undermined.They accept the status quo and consider collusion with the culture their only strategic option.
Boys will behave as boys... I don't want to stop them because blokes have to have their fun too... If I walked in and they were telling a joke and I'd say,'What's the joke?', and they would say,'Oh no, you don't want to hear', and I would say, 'Fine'...I didn't want them to change the way they work...just have a very upfront, easy relationship in that sense. (Female senior manager)
If you spill the occasional 'f' or 'c', I'd laugh along with you...If I want to add value I have to understand people at the pointy end. (Female senior manager)
Others take on the 'honourary bloke' status. I think her natural style is to get on well with men, she's kind of a tomboy in a way. So she's surrounded herself with men. (Female manager)
I'm seen as one of the boys. (Female senior manager)
There have been a couple of females that have ended up being blokes and mixing it with the boys. They've been very successful. (Female senior manager)
They don't mind a strong woman because you're more like a man. Being a girly girl, they don't know how to handle you. (Female senior manager)
Others are able to celebrate their femininity and leverage off the advantages that come with it.These women accept that being female is part of who they are and how they engage with others.They may enjoy the attention that the 'only woman' status affords and are able to accommodate the full range of male environments.
I'm blonde. I have shoulder-length hair and I do my nails. I don't shy away from being a woman and the privileges that it brings. (Female senior manager)
Being the only female is lots of fun too, I've got to say... There are some people who don't want to talk with a female... There are other guys who want to talk to someone else for a bit of relief because they are always talking to blokes. I saw the advantages but never the disadvantages. (Female senior manager)
Many work within the cultural stereotype.They understand the powerful place of archetypal dynamics and can leverage this understanding to their advantage. Senior women continue to play designated roles, such as the scolding or supportive wife, alongside their male patrons.
We're called 'Mr and Mrs'. [The senior male manager] wants you to be here because they see you as the other side of their personality. I'm the conscience. But if I was the logic, I'd be in a different situation. (Female senior manager)
While the most successful women demonstrate an ability to navigate in the prevailing culture, many find the challenge of ongoing compromise daunting, as they struggle and juggle to survive. Many forgo their own authenticity and capacity for leadership in an attempt to serve patrons and to accommodate the dominant style. Indeed, there is little evidence that women ever gain the opportunity to exercise real authenticity as leaders. Women in leadership do not appear to set the cultural agenda or radically change their working environments. Tolerance of male dominated culture does not diminish once they reach executive level. While women may achieve a level of success, it is often at the expense of personal integrity and wellbeing, undermining their full potency as leaders (Hampden-Turner, 1994).
[The senior female manager] says all the right things but it's not changing behaviour a couple of levels down... It's a very hard thing to change. (Female manager)
[The senior female manager] doesn't actually do anything to promote women... She doesn't make it harder for women but I think her natural style is to get on well with men. (Female manager)
It's actually hard to be [feminine] when everyone around you is being [masculine]. From a career perspective you can actually get shafted. (Male senior manager)
Women have the greatest opportunity to exercise real authority as leaders when there is a critical mass of women.While these organisations are faced with demanding business imperatives and pressure for expeditious responses to the customer, the culture can accommodate heterogonous leadership styles.This provides women and men with a capacity to take up authentic authority.
There is more variety with women in power. There is more heterogeneity. There is a kaleidoscope of different women and men. This makes us so attractive to women. (Female senior manager)
10.2 Conclusion
The study finds that hard work and sacrifice alone will not guarantee women a leadership position in mainstream corporate Australia. Women who gain seniority and authority do so through compliance and patronage. A deep level of cultural resistance to the female presence eludes an authentic female contribution. While the ability to adapt is a skill many successful leaders share (Kram & McCollom, 1998),women need greater space to exercise authenticity if they are to be truly effective leaders. Women need more than just a seat at the executive table. They need to command respect and loyalty from their colleagues to achieve significant and sustainable outcomes for business. To this end, a greater acknowledgement of the different 'look' of female authority is needed (Sinclair, 2004b: Meyerson & Fletcher, 2000).