Maria Sumner EDL621i November 18, 2011

Article Review of Gender Differences By: Uwe Gielen

The article addressed the different studies that were done by different researches on gender differences in the workforce. Lawrence Kohlberg is a researcher who stated that women did not perform as well as men did on his justice reasoning scale. Carol Gilligan conducted studies that showed that Kohlbergs studies were inaccurate. She created studies to prove that men and women are just different and that this is evident from an early age where girls had more empathy than boys and that girls loved to be social where boys would distance themselves more. She also stated that boys strived for autonomy. As a result of these studies in young children, she insisted that men and women have different characteristics and personalities and that the characteristics of women make for a good leader.

As I first read the article, I didnt really know what to think. Then as I got passed the title, I felt like it was a man vs. women article and who makes a better leader. Since Im a female, I immediately sided with Gilligans Theory. Females need to stick together, right? Well, not quite. Once I started learning about the findings of Gilligans research and the other researchers observations, I started thinking about my job and how gender differences affect my workplace. In my line of work, Gilligans theory has come alive. More and more female principals are filling up the principal and assistant principal positions. Gilligan stated that women show more compassion and care where men showed a more authoritarian style of leading. If the human resource personnel are aware of these studies, if given the choice, they would place a female in the position rather than a male to lead a community of children who we all assume need care and compassion. Females have the motherly characteristics that men do not possess. Theories such as this does not allow us to get pass the stereotype. There are many capable males that

can adjust to their surroundings and they adjust their personalities to meet the demands of the job. There are male principals who do a much better job showing motherly characteristics than some female principals. After reading more into the article, I started thinking about different lines of work. In the field

of construction, the project manager would need characteristics that are more of the authoritarian style since the construction workers dont necessarily need a caring and compassionate environment in order to work effectively so we assume that the best project managers for construction would be males right? There are women who are very firm and who are great at reasoning that would be able to handle the situation. Some men dont have the reasoning skills when problem solving that some women might posses.

I guess what Im trying to reach at is that research like this could make or break a potential leader. Once stereotype gets in the way of making leadership decision, it jeopardizes the possibility of the persons chance of growing in a particular field. I feel that there is no gender difference and that there should be no gender differences. I believe that we all have individual differences. We are all individuals with individual strengths and weaknesses. What makes us strong or weak are the experiences that we have dealt with in our lives. What makes us a good leader comes from our determination and our confidence level and how we can adapt and deal with what comes our way. A good leader is not a male or a female. A good leader understands that we all make mistakes and that every mistake is a learning opportunity. A good leader is a lifelong learner, a good listener, and an individual who accepts others for who they are and what they have to offernot whether he/she is a male or a female.

REFERENCE

Gielen, Uwe. Gender Difference. Retrieved from:

https://online.lynn.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboard%2f execute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_18684_1%26url%3d.