The Power of Perception

Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, and the Gender Divide

Shawn Andrews

• Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781683505792
• eBook ISBN: 9781683505808
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Management
• Index: Business

The Power of Perception: Leadership, Emotional Intelligence and the Gender Divide serves as a practical guide to educate women, men and organizations on the barriers that keep women from fully contributing in the workplace. These include differences in leadership style and emotional intelligence, gender bias and stereotypes, breadwinner and caregiver responsibilities, and differences in gender culture which show up every day at work and home. The Power of Perception also explores significant changes in global demographic trends and how our youngest generations are impacting the workplace.

The Power of Perception clearly illustrates the reasons that we don't see more women leading our global businesses. It has nothing to do with women's skills and competencies and everything to do with perceptions of women as leaders, as workers, as mothers, and as wives. These perceptions have a significant impact on promotion for many women. Perception is reality—and it's powerful.

The Power of Perception provides personal stories of women's journeys, real-world examples, and is based on the author's own research as well as that of many others. Every chapter includes practical, easy-to-apply strategies, summary points, and reflection questions to empower women, men, and organizations to fully leverage talent and diversity.

PART I

Leadership and Emotional Intelligence

ONE

Startling Statistics

You don’t get harmony when everyone sings the same note.

Doug Floyd

In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches or chords. In other words, it is multiple voices singing different tones and notes at the same time that creates an overall harmony. If everyone sang the same note, we would not hear the beautiful sounds and blending of different voices in unison. In global business, the same is true. When we hear only one voice or one type of voice, we miss the nuances and variety of perspectives that multiple people can offer. Yet, that has been the reality in business since its origin.

From a political perspective, of the 195 independent countries in the world, fifteen are led by women.¹ Although these numbers have increased in recent years, it represents only 8 percent of world leaders. In looking at global parliaments, including both lower and upper houses of government, women hold only 23 percent of seats.² So, for the vast majority of our world, when it comes to decisions that shape our laws and policies, a woman’s voice—any woman’s voice—is simply not being heard.

When we hear only one voice or one type of voice, we miss the nuances and variety of perspectives that multiple people can offer.

From a legal perspective, women experience inequities and some countries still deny women basic civil rights. In 103 economies, there is at least one legal differentiation between men and women that can prevent women from getting a job, owning property, or starting their own businesses. A report from the World Bank in 2012 measured twenty-one differentiations for unmarried women and twenty-four differentiations for married women, for a total of forty-five gender-based differences in the law, across five topics.³ Because of this disparity in legal rights, women end up legally and economically dependent upon their husbands or other male relatives, despite commitments that some of their governments have made to ensure they are on an equal footing with men.

From an economic and social perspective, the plight of women is even more disheartening. Of the 1.3 billion people living in poverty around the world, 70 percent are women. This equates to 910 million women who struggle to care for themselves and their families. Regarding education, there are 130 million primary school age children who do not attend school, and 60 percent of these are girls. If they are lucky enough to attend school, by age eighteen, girls have received an average of 4.4 years less education than boys.⁴

Pregnancies and childbirth-related health problems also take their toll on women in many countries. These complications take the lives of around 500,000 women each year—that’s one woman every minute! In sub-Saharan Africa, a woman faces a one in thirteen chance of dying in childbirth. In Western Europe, the risk is one in 3,200.

When it comes to violence, women are disproportionately affected. Worldwide, approximately 4.4 million women are victims of forced sexual exploitation.⁵ At least one in three girls and women has been beaten or abused in her lifetime, and of every ten people killed or wounded during armed conflict, eight are women or children.⁶ It is no surprise then, if women have less power politically, legally, economically, and socially, why progress toward global gender equality has been so painstakingly slow.

Red, White and Blue

In the United States, we pledge allegiance to liberty and justice for all, yet the disparity in leadership roles and gender equality is not much better inside our borders. Women now comprise 57 percent of the total job market and a full 60 percent of bachelor’s degrees at U.S. universities.⁷ Women also outpace men in the total number of master and doctorate degrees.⁸ In government, women hold 104 (19 percent) of the 535 seats in the 115th U.S. Congress, which comprises twenty-one (21 percent) of the one hundred seats in the Senate and eighty-three (19 percent) of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives. In addition, seven women hold federal executive positions, which are presidential cabinet or cabinet-level, and three women are Supreme Court justices. In addition, of the one hundred largest U.S. cities, there are twenty women mayors.⁹

According to the U.S. Labor Department, the top three most common occupations for women in 2014 were secretaries and/or administrative assistants, followed by elementary and/or middle school teachers, and then registered nurses.¹⁰ Despite an increasing presence in the workforce and greater education, women are still pursuing or adhering to stereotypical female roles. These traditional female jobs make up not only the top three most common occupations, they comprise half of the top twenty-five occupations for women.

In none of the top twenty-five most common occupations for women, do women earn more than men. Not one.

Even within those top traditionally female jobs, a pay wage gap exists. Female secretaries and administrative assistants earn 85 percent of men’s salary, female elementary and middle school teachers earn 87 percent of men’s salary, and female registered nurses earn 90 percent of men’s salary.¹¹ In fact, in none of the top twenty-five most common occupations for women, do women earn more than men. Not one.

Looking at the overall earnings ratio and wage gap for all occupations, the median annual earnings of full-time, year-round workers in 2014 were $50,383 for men, and $39,621 for women.¹² This represents a gap of 21 percent, which means that women earn seventy-nine cents for every dollar that men earn.¹³ This number has climbed from fifty-nine cents per dollar in 1960, and in the past five years, has only increased one cent. Once again, progress toward gender equality has been painstakingly slow.

What’s important about the pay wage gap is the message it sends. Companies all over the globe are consistently telling women the same message—you are valued less than men. That’s the bottom line. Despite how much a woman may contribute to her company, her years of experience, her skills and competencies, or her title, the message is the same and it comes across loud and clear. It’s no wonder many women are so passionate about this issue. How would you feel if you found out that you were paid $20,000 less per year than a peer you work with every day? It’d be even worse if that colleague was your direct report.

Teri is vice president of business development at a major commercial construction company, and has worked in this role for ten years. This is on top of twenty-seven years in other construction industry roles, which makes her a seasoned veteran with thirty-seven years’ experience. As a VP, she sits on the executive team, make decisions that affect the company, and is privy to financial and employee information. A year ago, Teri was part of a team evaluating candidates for a director role that would eventually report to her. The candidate was hired and assigned to Teri’s team. It was then she realized that he made $30,000 more than she, was fifteen years younger, and had less experience!

After discussions with her boss and other executives on the issue, human resources examined the pay of all women across the company. They found that women in the same positions as men made, on average, $10,000 less than their male counterparts—without exception. The company now monitors all salaries to try and level pay inequities. Granted, Teri works in a male-dominated industry made up of 9 percent women.¹⁴ However, this is not an isolated or unique situation. Stories like this occur across all industries and all types of positions.

Men control the pace at which women will be allowed into leadership positions.

During the past three decades, women have achieved parity with men in both number of employees in the workforce and positions in middle management. Given these statistics, a natural shift to a more gender-balanced senior management should be a reasonable, expected outcome. Despite this fact, female leaders are few and far between, especially in key executive leadership positions. Although women have made some strides in the past decades, men still occupy far more positions that confer decision-making authority and the ability to influence other’s pay or promotions. In fact, men co...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction The Missing Gender
• Part I Leadership and Emotional Intelligence
• Part II Barriers and Perceptions
• Part III Next Steps
• About the Author
• Acknowledgements
• Appendix: Classroom or Book Club Discussion Questions
• Bibliography
• Notes