The Female Advantage

Sometimes, I become exhausted by all the ways we, as a society, report on the inequities and unfairness we experience at our own hands. We are quick to label things as being "this way" or "that way." We are perpetually victims or martyrs and it all seems quite heavy on the talk, low on the action. And isn't it a bit irrelevant anyway? After all, we all make our own luck, and we all create our own realities.

You may say: How naive! However, I believe I am justified in that belief. After all, I am educated, I am aware, I am involved.

Although, when I write this personal perspective out, I have to admit that I do wonder: am I also displaying ignorance through this, arguably naive, world view?

So what prompted these thoughts is that I have been reading a lot lately about the idea of what has been dubbed the "female advantage" in the workplace. The concept proposes that organizations are experiencing a shift in values, and qualities typically associated with women (open communication, compassion, and collaboration to name a few) are now being sought with fervor. Thus, women are allegedly in a position to capitalize on this shift and make unprecedented advancements in organizations--particularly within those working environments where they previously could have struggled due to their innate gender tendencies.

There seems to be a question out there as to whether or not this advantage is merely a media-driven myth, or if it is a concept that is in fact real, but that is still in the process of being realized.

Interesting to me is that the most popular standpoint is that this purported "female advantage" is actually disadvantageous to females. Irony is just everywhere, is it not?

By way of background: the idea is that workplaces have traditionally been "gendered" as male. That is to say, a direct and "action-at-all-costs" approach is favored in these "male" working environments. There is no room for emotion, and collaboration takes a back-seat to competition. Empathy is seen as a weakness. If you are in need of a tangible example, just watch an episode of Mad Men; Sterling Cooper offers a prime (if extreme) example of what a male gendered organization embodies.

But lately, there has been a lot of buzz about the male style as being passe. The suggestion is that organizations are adopting a more "feminine" model. Thus, characteristics such as listening and compassion are now held in high regard. Collaboration is encouraged, empathy is seen as a strength. And this alleged shift is dubbed the "female advantage" and thus implies that women are in a position in contemporary society to dominate organizations.


Before you get all jazzed up and start spewing personal examples that either refute or support this theory (and I know there are countless arguments for both sides of that coin), the truth is that men are still the ones in power: men earn more than women and they hold many more high positions than do women. You will have to take my word for it because I will not be inserting graphs and offering percentages here. Math is not my bag (and yes, I am aware of the female stereotype I am promoting with that admission), so if you want specific statistics, Google away.


In the meantime, I also want to be clear that it is not my interest or intent to pit genders against one another, to bemoan the disadvantages of being female, or to rant about all the horrible ways that evil privileged creature, "the white male" has been keeping me personally down for years, and my gender down for generations. Yes, I am a feminist.

Incidentally, I am also a daughter. And just as I choose not to blame my parents for every wrong thing in my life, so too do I choose not to blame the society into which I was born (this time around anyway) for every hurdle that is "unfairly" placed on my path. Statistics, historical data, and facts can be promenaded in front of me all day long. Yes, they have merit and they are interesting. No, they do not define me or my particular path. I care deeply about my gender and my status as an equal to all other human beings. Yet I also believe I need to make my own luck and it is up to me to realize my own dreams. I feel to do so bolsters the feminist cause.

Here is where you might choose to call me naive. That is fine: I have certainly been called worse.

But back to the topic. Given the statistical proof of men still dominating corporate America, why is there all this buzz about the "feminization" of the workplace? If the idea is experiencing so much attention, then it must have some merit, no?

Well, "female advantage" has been criticized as being a bit of a false positive. Yes, doors are opening to women because there is a mass evolution occurring that seems to be embracing and understanding the advantages of a more empathic and compassionate approach to life in general, and to business in particualr. So doors are opening everywhere to women in workplaces all over.

The problem is that that they are opening to reveal that old female nemesis: the glass ceiling. That is to say, women can enter any organization they want to, yet they will likely be relegated to the bottom few floors. The high positions still go to men. Women can contribute to the proliferation and bottom line of an organization through the employment of collaboration and increased communication within the workplace, yet these same traits are ones that virtually ensure the women will not be aggressively competing for top positions or elbowing out colleagues for the corner office. The women are in there, but they are not rising to the top. The "female advantage" means that there is a higher percentage of low-ranked female professionals, not that females are advantageously positioned to climb the ladder in contemporary work environments. Basically, it is a false hope, in a way.


Or is it?

So I was getting all juiced up about the unfairness of it all and was ready to stage a coup of some sort (bake sale, group cry--you know something decidedly female just so I can heap irony on top of irony as I so love to do).

But then I remembered who I am and what I actually believe as a person. I am not here to fight another's battles and if I am sticking to my guns that people create their own realities then I believe that the people who WANT those high positions, get them. So how does that account for the data reporting fewer women in positions of power? After all, as a professionally driven female, I understand that women are just as ambitious as men.

Well, I think that there is something to be said about inherent gender tendencies. The greatest impact on the bottom line comes from those that are a bit more ruthless, a bit more driven, a bit more competitive...a bit more "male," if you will. And I mean "male" whether they are biologically male or not. So I think the issue is not one of gender itself, but one of gender traits. After all, there are plenty of male-minded females and female-minded males. The former is certainly able to occupy the CEO's desk and the latter is likely not to even want such a position.

And maybe that is key: do those people who embody "female" traits even WANT those positions of power at the same rate that the more "male-minded" do? Since more men are "male-minded," maybe the ratio of women to men who do want such positions is accurately displayed in the workplace--female advantage aside.

How many women are angry at me right now?

But the bottom line is that we live in a society of possibilities. You are the only one who knows what success means to you, and you are the only one who can achieve your dreams. Maybe the female advantage will prove wonderful as more women are getting feet in the door, so to speak. Maybe it is the disadvantge as which it has recently been revealed. Or maybe a new theory will crop up tomorrow and the whole shabang will be like when the news reports that eggs are healthy to eat one week and then reveals them as being akin to devil spawn the next.

Just keep perspective. I lost all mine for a few as I became entrenched in the purported gender inequities in corporate America. We do not live in a perfect or a "fair" society. But that is not relevant to my story. Nor is it to yours.

Because, call me naive, but if you can concieve it and believe it then you can achieve it. And that has nothing to do with gender--biological or not.