EFFECTS OF GENDER STEREOTYPES ON JOB PERFORMANCE

Around 40 years back, the number of Women in the Management was more or less negligible. In
21st century the influx of women in the management has fizzle out as compared to the time when
several years ago the aggregate of women in Management was increasing. Corporate positions
are extensively Male-dominated field and stricter standards are been set for women to hold
Corporate positions. Male and female are evaluated against Gender Stereotypes. Women are not
expected to succeed in management, because characteristics associated with good leadership
qualities are associated with men and what is labeled masculine characteristics, and disassociated
with women and what is labeled feminine characteristics. The Research study examined
management stereotypes, perceptions of gender bias and evaluations of actual managers in
relation to each other. Gender Stereotypes are perceived as the barriers or hindrance to women in
Management. Gender Stereotypes are the reason why an individual is held back in an
organization and exposes to the negative work-place environment. The effects of Gender
Stereotyping could be extremely devastating and treacherous. Due to Gender Stereotypes in
different organization, Inequality persists.

The lack of Women in Management has often been attributed to stereotypical conceptions and
Gender norm where men and women are evaluated against Gender Stereotypes. Gender
Stereotype turns the employees emotionally brittle and the employees turn into a paranoid and
suspicious, fearful and angry individuals.

Women had management related jobs that were insignificant in numbers. This began to change
10 years back when female proportion in management began to increase. However, the inflow of
women in jobs of Europe stands during the 21st century (Franco, 2007) and men prevail on the
top corporate positions in the field (Catalyst, 2007; Fristedt et al., 2010). Stereotypical concepts
and long established gender criterion are held responsible for lack of women in management
positions through which men and women are evaluated independently on the basis of gender
stereotypes (Eagly and Karau, 2002).
Agentic behavior refers to assertive/aggressive, governing and confident behavior i.e. being
commanding, liberated, and self-ample. Characteristics shared by community are set for the
betterment of the people for example being sympathetic, sensitive to others and helping those in
need. Agentic males are considered as in congruity with both the leadership and their respective
gender roles whereas agentic females are viewed as having non conformity between their gender
and leadership roles. The female gender role is viewed as having more communal roles but not
the leadership roles. This differentiation between male and female roles results in both
descriptive (how women are viewed as) and prescriptive (how they should act) beliefs that effect
how women are perceived and judged in their job positions.

Linking stereotypes and perception of actual managers:

Landy (2008a) states that the information both the gender provides to the management are the
basis of their evaluation and then stereotypes exit the picture. However contrary to this notion it
is observed that sometimes employees are not motivated enough to provide this information to
the management and therefore are unable to remove labels of stereotypes form themselves
(Heilman and Eagly, 2008; Maynard and Brooks, 2008). The evaluation of managers often
depends on past experiences which can be either positive or negative and then form the basis of
evaluation (Duehr and Bono, 2006).
Feminist theories believe that women are more apt for management jobs and this will alter the
gender stereotypes that will be beneficial to women (Billing and Alvesson, 2000; Eagly, 2003;
Fondas, 1997; Kark, 2004).

Evaluations of actual managers:

Despite gender stereotypes actual managers in organizations portray a positive picture. In the
first meta-analysis Eagly and Johnson (1990) found no gender discrimination or bias on technical
and interpersonal jobs the only difference was the adaptation of different styles by men and
women in which the former chose autocratic and the latter chose democratic. The same study
stated no difference in effectiveness between the both genders with a slight exception of men
being more effective in job that require physical labor.

Even in developed European countries this discrimination has become evident as well. Mia
Hultin writes in Gender Differences in Workplace Authority: Discrimination and The Role of
Organizational Leaders that Swedish women earn less than men net of a range of individual and
structural factors relevant for wages. In the U.S., the Bureau of Labor Statistics cites women
working 41 to 44 hours per week earn 84.6% of what men working similar hours earn.

Gender bias at workplaces can be classified from different points of view. A general
classification may be given on the basis of common or regular treatments received by a female
employee or worker at her place of working as is reported through available data and experience
from time to time. These may be as follows: a) Pecuniary bias b) Biasness as to opportunities c)
Personal bias d) Authority bias.
The more people in Organizations rely on Gender Stereotypes, the more it will affect the
Employee’s performance as well as his/her motivation towards the job. Also, It might affect the
company’s OCB (Organizational Citizenship Behavior) in which an employee puts an extra
effort for ownership of the organization. Employee turnover may increase and would lead to a
hostile working environment. Gender Stereotypes can affect employee both personally and
professionally by killing his/her morale to perform the task more efficiently in the Organization.
Lastly, Gender Stereotypes would lead to the company’s destruction.

Males and Females are attributed with certain types of characteristics that remain specific to their
gender and are judged and perceived accordingly. The exclusion of Gender Stereotypes means to
end the Generalizations which are commonly made on the basis of Gender. Gender Stereotypes
in Organization shows lack of diversity in an organization which is why the organization could
be at high-risk so to reduce such stereotypes, the organization should create an inclusion program
in which proper steps are taken to put an end to Gender Stereotypes that is affecting employee’s
job performance as well as the ownership of the company. Also, the gender-related education and
training programs through which an organization can raise employee awareness of gender
stereotypes. Work-place Audit would be more preferable as it would be able to locate or detect if
any employee is unfairly promoted to Management positions within an organization. Further, if
the company wants to improve such conditions then the company should focus on improving its
HR practices.
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