Helene Lawson’s article, Attacking Nicely: Women Selling Cars, illustrates the difference between how males and females experience the world. Young girls are socialized as to how to act and even think and feel. Females are taught to place importance on taking the needs of others into consideration and to maintain honesty in relations.
Lawson’s article presents the idea that in a field historically dominated by males, women have changed the business of selling cars. As an inherent aspect of the profession, car salespeople are involved in situations laced with dishonesty, distrust, and immoral dealings. It is understood that salespeople deal with these issues in multiple ways. They may choose to focus on monetary goals, suppress any reflection of ethicality, claim innocence through feigned unawareness, justify behavior as
…show more content…
The addition of women into the field of car sales is generally not well received by men. The interactions between co-workers of opposite genders are expected to remain an area of conflict until there is a more gender-balanced ratio. More important than co-worker relationships, is the ability to overcome the negative reception female salespeople often receive when dealing with male customers. In order to overcome this prejudice and make sales Lawson asserts that the saleswomen adapt to the following roles: Innocents, Ladies, Tough Guys, Reformers, and Retreaters. This role adaptation is an aspect of how women have changed the business of selling cars. Lawson proposes that in these roles, women make use of their personalities and socialized female gender traits to sell cars. The female socialization experience provides saleswomen with a higher level of introspection and different value perspectives than their male counterparts, which has been found to be a positive moderating influence on the interactions between salespersons and