According to Collins & Singh, (2006) the organisational culture barriers are due to unfairness that are held by men which prevent women from being appointed into executive positions. It was further elaborated by Straub (2007, p. 292) who stated that “different gender roles are imposed on males and females from early childhood”. According to Straub (2000), state that the traditional role of women is to raise children whilst the role of the men is to work and provide for the family.
According to Oakley (2000), women perceive gender bias to be one of the biggest challenges they have faced in their professional careers. Women have been faced with assumptions that they were hired or promoted because of their gender and not because of their competencies
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This non-traditional leadership style is characterised by completeness and interactiveness. Subordinates are encouraged to participate and have a say in every aspect of their work. This inclusive leadership style has its disadvantages, which is not only viewed as symbolic of women leaders, but the leaders have to act on the input they receive which takes up a lot of time, therefore opening one up to criticism which can be interpreted as the leader not having answers (Rosener, 1990). In addition Rosener (1990) indicated that women prefer the participation leadership style but when there are time constraints, women tend to act unilaterally. Rosener (1990) indicated that this nontraditional leadership style can be effective in organisations that accept it, where the organisation is not always about the survival of the fittest.
In addition Rosener, (1990) indicated that best leadership style is said to depend on the context of the organisation; an interactive and inclusive leadership style is viewed as a feminine leadership style and will be challenged in male oriented organisations that have succeeded using the command-and-control leadership style (Rosener, 1990). Some men use an inclusive leadership style while some women are comfortable and
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Carrier (1995) found that there was reluctance on the part of senior management to employ certain groups of women due to their current or possible future family commitments. Lane and Piercy (2003) also indicated that male and female societal predefined roles determine their roles in the work environment. Heilman (1997) claimed that it is a common view that men are more focused on getting the work done while women are focused on keeping people happy. Jamieson (1995) also referred to the femininity-competency bind which means that acting in a feminine manner is seen as being incompetent; while being competent is associated with masculine traits and thus being ‘un-feminine’. These double binds have resulted in women continuously self-monitoring themselves, and thus drain the energy that could be applied to more important work related issues (Oakley,