It seems like everyone is trying to argue about whether feminine traits are a strength or weakness for executives.
Sheryl Sandberg says in her controversial book that women should embrace their "feminine emotions" even if this means crying at work. She says that we need to stop pretending that we're not human at the office, because "work life" is real life and we don't just become different people because it's working hours.
Ashleigh Shelby Rosette, an associate professor at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, writes in The New York Times that the skills women naturally posses, such as "demonstrating respect and sensitivity" and "taking an interest in employees" elicits trust from employees, which creates a more productive work environment.
But Alan Goldman, a professor of management at Arizona State University West disagrees in a separate article in The Times saying that this vulnerable, sensitive side associated with women isn't effective in the business world. According to him, this compassion is intuitive and may make women different from men in the workplace, but it isn't helping women rise up any time soon.
Goldman, who consults Fortune 500 companies, says that the "bold, top-down leadership style directly associated with the male animal may be under attack, but it is still quite effective. Despite current attempts at demonizing old-school male behavior, it continues to rule" and that the "veneer of male dominance" is what's going to earn you respect in the end. In short, women need to be more assertive and self-promoting because "distasteful male leadership works."
We wonder, however, whether the real problem here is associating certain traits with either genders. When you're at work, you are supposed to act differently than you would in your down time. But this change doesn't mean that you're adopting male or female characteristics. Competition in the workplace forces us to be more aggressive and look out for ourselves. It's called being career-driven and the ability to exhibit different traits at different times is necessary for survival in the workforce. Perhaps the first step to changing inequality is to stop defining how women and men act in the workplace as either masculine or feminine and just start calling it what it is: working.
SEE ALSO: Here's Why You SHOULD Listen To Billionaire Sheryl Sandberg On Gender
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