In 1966, the board game “What Shall I be? The Exciting Game of Career Girls” hit the shelves. The aim of the game was to be the first player to become a career girl. To win, you had to collect four school cards of one profession, two subject cards and two personality cards that were suitable for that profession. And what stellar professions did the winner stand to become? A teacher, airline hostess, actress, nurse, model and a ballet dancer.
It goes without saying that the exciting game of career girls has changed heaps in the past 40 years. We’re invading the workplace and even in formerly male-dominated industries like engineering, we’re strutting in with our power suits and Louboutin heels. According to the Ministry of Labour, 51 percent of women in Singapore are in the workforce, a figure not too far from other developed nations such as the US and UK, which has 56 and 53 percent of women working respectively. Despite these positive trends, we haven’t transcended gender-stereotyped limits entirely. While our real-life Game of Career Girls has expanded to include doctor, executive and a whole array of topnotch jobs, when it comes to who sits at the top of that career ladder, we’re still Barbie girls stuck in Ken’s world. Check this out: Out of the Fortune 500 companies of 2007, an annual ranking of the largest corporations in America, only 12 are led by women.
This isn’t to say that being female by default means being at the losing end. Anne Cummings, an associate professor of management at the University of Minnesota who has studied organisational behaviour and leadership styles, found that employees ranked traditionally feminine qualities of being relationship-oriented, diplomatic and good at communication as being important in leaders. However, despite this, female leaders were consistently perceived as less effective than their male counterparts. “Men are still perceived as better leaders and it has to do with what is deemed desirable in a man and in woman,” Cumming argues. Another study conducted by the University of Maine’s Business School confirms these attitudes. As much as some feminine traits were seen as desirable in employees, in leaders, socialisation and communication skills weren’t seen in the same light.
So what are these gender differences and how do they affect the way our superiors, subordinates and peers perceive our capabilities? According to a survey conducted by Development Dimensions International (DDI) on leadership, while male and females don’t differ much in capabilities, they do show significant differences in the way they feel about their skills and other workplace issues, in particular taking on positions of higher power and huger responsibilities. Explaining why these gender differences exist is tricker but to a large extent, that isn’t the point. Whether these differences are cases of nature versus nurture, sitting around contemplating why it is the case won’t get us any nearer to where we want to be individually and collectively as women.
If we are to emerge victorious in this battle of the sexes, it’s worth acknowledging that with a playing field currently dominated by men, the rules, to a certain extent, are set by them and who gets to be a star player will be judged against a set of criteria that might not include our feminine instincts. There’s no point in being the best ballerina in rugby match. But that doesn’t mean achieving success means becoming a man. The key is to reap the best of both worlds, so that your feminine instincts and masculine habits symbotically inform each other. Here are some of the most common mistakes women unknowingly make their jobs and how you can deal with them like a man.
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