Seeking new CEO: preferably male
Some people think that women aren’t leaders simply because they don’t want to be.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, last year Kevin Roberts, the executive chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi, a British advertising agency, made a public statement that women don’t aspire to top positions, because, “Their ambition is not a vertical ambition, it’s this intrinsic, circular ambition to be happy.”
It seems he’s arguing that women don’t want to be leaders.
This statement is riddled with fallacies, and many of his employees thought so too. Two days after he publically commented on the ambitions of women, he officially resigned from his position.
Ironically, Saatchi & Saatchi’s chief creative officer at the time was a woman.
Women arguably have the potential to be even better leaders than men.
This is due to the fact that women are more in touch with their emotional intelligence, and many possess the soft skills needed to be a good leader.
They also tend to strive to satisfy the majority, and take emotions into account when making decisions.
These common traits among women give them an advantage when it comes to the workplace, and is one of the reasons there need to be more women in positions of power.
In high school and college level leadership positions, women account for close to half of the population, yet that number plummets once they reach the business world.
According to the Center for American Progress, women hold almost 52 percent of all professional jobs. So why are there so few in leadership positions?
One of the most common arguments as to why there are so few women in high business positions is that they should not be hired over a man with the same qualifications if they could potentially need to take a maternity leave at any point in their career.
It is thought by some that this makes them an unreliable employee due to the fact that they could be missing significant days of work.
However, instead of chastising women for taking maternity leave when they give birth, society should encourage men to stay home more often with the newborn.
Companies and industries seem to hold women to higher standards than men. This year’s presidential race is an excellent example of this. Regardless of whether or not she should be president, citizens consider Hillary Clinton cold, rude, or calculating.
However, these traits in a male candidate would be expressed as assertive, confident, and ambitious. Because she is a woman, however, her qualities that would make her a good leader are shown in a negative light.
Right here in the Bay Area, there are plenty of examples of strong, successful female leaders. Such as Marissa Mayer, the CEO of Yahoo, or Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook.
These women, along with many others, are living proof that women are capable of much more than “a circular ambition.”
Ruling out women for leadership positions in the business world leaves companies with high ranking employees that are not necessarily the best fit for the job, nor the most qualified.
Will women have a voice as leaders in these fields? Or will our society continue in the misguided belief that traditional male attributes equal better leaders?