Leadership – is it gendered? Some useful concepts Gendered organisations The ‘ideal worker’ norm

1. Gender and leadershipMargaret HallockDirector Wayne Morse Center for Law and PoliticsBarbara PocockDirectorCentre for Work + LifeUniversity of South Australia

2. Leadership – is it gendered? • Some useful concepts • Gendered organisations • The ‘ideal worker’ norm • How women lead – is it different? • Lessons for women who lead?

3. Is leadership gendered? • As an empirical fact, yes: • While women make up almost one in two workers in the US and Australia • They make up small proportions of all kinds of leaders • Less than 10% of the world’s leaders are women (UN stats) • Less than one in five members of parliament globally are women • Women reach ‘critical mass’ of 30% of members of parliament in only 28 countries

4. In the US • In 2012 women make up: • 16.8% of Congress (535 seats) (3% in 1979; 13.6% in 2001) • In US state legislatures • Women make up 23.6% of legislators • Women make up 16% of US Fortune 500 companies’ boards • Barely changed from 14.6% in 2006 (Catalyst) • 14.1% of Chief executives in US Fortune 500 companies in 2010

5. Australia? • 3% of CEOs of top 200 companies are women (2010) • 2% in 2008 • 8.4% Board directors of top 200 companies • 8.3% in 2008 • Federal parliamentarians – 30% • 29.6% in 2008

6. Julia Gillard – first Prime Minister – 1 year

7. In Professions Women have been rapidly increasing their share of qualifications and experience…but In 2009/10 in the US women made up 47.2% of law students Only 31.5% of lawyers were women And they made up only 19.5% of partners

8. Labour market is gendered • Occupational segregation • Women and men do different jobs

11. Unpaid labour is also gendered Men and women do different unpaid tasks • Men to garbage, women do care, cooking cleaning • Women do twice as many hours as men – in most countries • In Australia, in 2006, women spent an average of two hours and 52 minutes per day on domestic activities, compared to one hour and 37 minutes for men • Even when both work full-time, women spend on average 46 minutes a day more than men on domestic activities • And it has hardly changed since 1987

12. A theory of gendered organisations

13. Organizations and gender • Organizations are not gender neutral • Women do not step into organizations that treat men and women in gender-neutral ways • They are gendered, and they enact processes which make and remake gendered hierarchies • Joan Acker (1990) ‘Hierarchies, Jobs, Bodies: A Theory of Gendered Organizations’ Gender and Society, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Jun., 1990), pp. 139-158

14. How does this gendering happen? • The way jobs are organised and valued • The way jobs fit with the rest of life, especially care • (sometimes called the division of labour between work in the labour market, or in the home) • the construction of symbols and images – eg dress • The ways people interact – in conversation, interruption • The ways in which people construct their (gendered) identities • In the fundamental, ongoing processes of work and workplaces • eg written work rules, labor contracts, managerial directives, and other documentary tools for running large organizations, including systems of job evaluation

15. The ‘ideal’ worker/leader • The ‘worker’ of labour law and workplace norms has a gender: • He is male, he is assumed to be ‘care-free’ • He is assumed to be supported at home – a breadwinner with a partner at home • He is the ‘ideal’ worker who sets the norms for working patterns • This is not most women • Who must adapt and morph around the established norms • Eg in Australia – 50% women work part-time and take a life-long pay cut to do so. This is a ‘choice’ around the male norm • Joan Williams (2001) Unbending gender: why family and work conflict and what to do about it, Oxford University Press

16. When women step into institutions made in the image of the ‘ideal worker’ • They are – not infrequently - viewed as different • Affected by their reproductive differences • Pregnancy, the assumption of pregnancy • Childcaring and domestic work • Other types of caring – for aged, infirm, disability • Closely scrutinized about how they look • Sexually harassed • Discriminated against

17. Leadership takes place within: • Gendered institutions, like the labour market • Gendered organizations, like the workplace • SO • Women leaders look different to the established norms of leaders • They behave differently (often) to the gendered norm • Reflecting how they are different to men (whether socialised that way or innately different) • Because of their reproductive roles and concerns • They are (often) negatively affected by their ‘difference’ • Sexualised, objectified • They lead differently

18. Being a woman leader • Took me a while… • ‘My turn’ to be out front • A life-cycle approach to leadership – the right time • Key things I’ve learned: • Vision – being clear about where we are going • Behaving ethically – all the time • Managing people well – biggest challenge, always (a craft to learn) • Admitting and learning from mistakes • Trying not to care about peopletoo much….