Gender Stereotyping: A HRM Quandary

Gender Stereotyping

(A Human Resource Management Quandary)

Presented by: Guided by:

Marrium Khan DR. Sameer Sharma

(PhD scholar Peoples university, Bhopal)

People’s University, Bhopal.

February 2018

Abstract

Stereotyping can cause people at a workplace to behave in a certain manner. Most probably it
acts as a key barrier in improvisation of an organization. Gender stereotyping can have negative
impacts for females at a workplace; women can be distrusted for certain roles. Women have
made enormous advances in education and career but equality in pay and participation still elude
them. However gender focused human resource management signals organizations perspective
on gender diversity. A gender diverse firm provides a firm with competitive advantage that
should result in high performance. Hence it is HRM responsibility to retain the diverse
workforce. Quotas are not the way forward for increasing gender diversity at all levels of
management, but human resource management has a role to play. Human resource management
is still not championing the necessary changes to the workplace that would most effectively
support equality.

Keywords: gender equality, gender stereotyping, human resource management, gender diversity.

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Gender Stereotyping: A HRM Quandary

Introduction

HRM is the phenomenon of late 19th century, when, with the growth of industrialization in the
west, the role of HR managers started to emerge. However, it gained importance in 1950‘s,
when Japanese used it as a strategic resource. That led to coining of the term HRM and the
realization among the managements that an organized and militant labor force was an essential
requirement for efficiency and that a “human approach” towards employees paid greater
dividends both at the organizational and national level.

As a Chinese proverb suggests that “if u wish to grow something for a reason grow mangoes. If u
wish to grow something for a year grow rice. If u wish to grow something for a lifetime grow
man power.” A firm therefore focuses on the maximum utilization of human resources in an
organization to get the maximum output.

HRM is quite an omen defined as productivity through people. Considered as a scientific process
of continuously enabling the employees of an organization both in their individual capacities and
members of the group. However, on the contrary, the workplace has sometimes been referred to
as an inhospitable place for women due to multiple forms of gender inequalities present (e.g.,
Abrams, 1991) some examples of how workplace discrimination negatively affects women’s
earnings and opportunities are the gender wage gap (e.g., Peterson and Morgan, 1995), the
reason may be or may not be the gender stereotypes.

What are gender stereotypes? A man might say women aren’t meant for combat, while women
might say men do nothing but watch sports. Such expressions represent GENDER
STEREOTYPES, which are over generalization about the characteristics of an entire group
based on gender. While women were barred from serving in military combat in western nations
until the latter half of the 20th century, in recent times they have served in combat roles as
capably as men. And while many men may watch sports, not all men would necessarily do so.
Gender stereotypes can have negative connotations, like those above, but they can also have
positive connotations, even though they are often over generalized. For instance, the notion that
women are better caregivers than men is a positive connotation but it is a generalization and not
necessarily true in all cases. The impact of gender stereotypes on people, society and corporate
can vary. When people automatically apply gender assumptions to others regardless of evidence

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Gender Stereotyping: A HRM Quandary

to the contrary, they are perpetuating gender stereotyping. Many people recognize the danger of
gender stereotyping, yet continue to make these types of generalizations, these sort of
stereotypes can prove harmful ; they can stifle individual expression and creativity at the
workplace, as well as hinder personal and professional growth. The weight of scientific evidence
demonstrates that children learn gender stereotypes from adults. Emerging as a powerful
sociopolitical force beginning in the 1960s, the feminist movement, or women’s liberalization
movement, has lobbied for the rights of women and minorities. Feminist have fought hard to
challenge and redefine traditional stereotypic gender roles.

Gender stereotyping in organization is a complex phenomenon that can be seen in organizational

structures, processes, and practices. For women, some of the most harmful gender inequalities
are enacted within human resource practices. This is because HR practices affect the hiring,
training, pay and promotion of women. And it is to some extent the responsibility of human
resource department to overcome this prevalent drawback.

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Background

Despite improvements in female participation at management levels, women still fill less than
2% of CEO leadership positions in the FORTUNE 500. While some are optimistic that women
will increasingly take the top HR jobs over the next ten years, how influential a role does the
CHRO (chief human resource officer) play as a strategic advisor. And is there a gender bias?
It is not surprising to find, therefore, that leaders continue to be thought of as men with the
management levels in most industries considered to be ‘male-typed’. But in a few industries
women have moved into management positions. These industries have become more
‘gender -neutral’ and there are indications that stereotypes of leader as men may be changing.
The GENDER DIVIDE: Survey results presented by SHRM (strategic human resource
management) indicate there is a gender divide. In a 2010 survey of CHROs at US Fortune 200
companies, respondents were asked how much of their time they spend in various roles:

- Male CHROs said they spend 37.6% of their time either being a “strategic advisor” (19.2%)
and “counselor, coach, of confidante” (18.4%)

- Comparatively, female CHROs said they spend only 29.3% of their time in these roles 914.2%
being a strategic advisor, and 15.1% being a coach).

What does this mean: leaving the rest, female CHROs spend more time than their male
counterparts in the role of “talent architect”. This role is more functionally HR-focused; being
defines as ensuring the right people are in the right positions at the highest level of the firm. The
resulting finding was that female HR leaders spend more time on functional activities than
strategic ones, and are less likely to be considered strategic advisors or executive coaches. Bias is
present in and out of the office. For example, according to McKinsey and Leanln.org’s 2017
gender report, women with a partner are 5.5 times more likely than their male counterparts to do
all or most of the housework. However, women are not advancing, while men are.

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The study, The Evolving Manager Stereotype: The effects of industry typing on performance
expectations for leaders and their teams by Susan F. Cabrera, Stephen J.Sauer and Melissa C.
Thomas-Hunt of the universities of Cornell, Clarkson and Virginia respectively, investigates how
male and female leaders and the teams are evaluated differently according to the gender-typing
of the industry in which they work.

The researcher’s findings were that people have higher expectations for the performance of
teams when the leader’s gender is consistent with gender-typing of the industry in which the
team works. However, expectations for performance of leaders own performance was not
impacted by their consistency with industry gender-typing. According to Susan F. Cabrera:
“their research demonstrates the power of stereotypes concerning what kind of people should
lead organization in what kind of industry. In addition, it suggests that, as more women move
into certain sectors of their economy, stereotypes may be evolving in ways that create a more
level playing field for women who aspire to leadership positions”.

However the human resource practices can have significant impact on the female employee’s
performance. Employees would feel appreciative to repay organization with extra effort and
devotion when appropriate encouragement is given. Job description, working conditions, result
oriented appraisal and internal career growth can act as a motivational tool for women workforce
if provided genuinely. Women exhibiting traditional leadership skills such as assertiveness tend
to be seen as competent but not personable or well liked. Those who adopt a more stereotypically
feminine style are liked but not seen as having valued leadership skills.

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CONCLUSION

Ultimately there is an increasingly active dialogue happening about this gender stereotypes- and
the business benefits of correcting it. Recent research in McKinsey & company, for instance,
found that when “companies commit themselves to diverse leadership, they are more
successful.” Especially the McKinsey & company study found that “companies in the top
quartile of gender diversity are 15% more likely to have financial returns above their respective
national industry medians.”

In other words, closing the gender gap is not just ethically right; it also makes good business
sense.

Moreover, there also persist many social pressures that push women in higher level of seniority
to simultaneously balance work, family, and a disproportionate amount of housework.
Companies may consider how to modify expectations and better support working parents so that
they don’t force women to make a “family or work decision”. Human resource management may
actually help in paving the way for females to take on a greater and more equitable role at the
workplace overcoming the gender stereotyping. Organizations need to develop strategies to
remove the pervasive and damaging impact of gender stereotyping from the workplace and
expanding pool of female leadership talent. Education about how stereotyping works and holding
individual accountable can decrease the negative impact of gender bias, by identifying ways in
which women are at risk of stereotypic bias and implementing innovative work practices that
target stereotypic bias. Managerial training and diversity education and hence employing
objective and unambiguous evaluation criteria. The main task of developing countries like us is
the transition to knowledge based economy. A distinctive feature of the innovation economy. As
of for developed countries the problem of gender aspects of HRM is becoming one of the main
issues. One of the possible solutions to the problem is more effective involvement of women
representing a large social group, with significant employment potential. However, gender
asymmetries, do not allow for full realization of this potential.

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Gender Stereotyping: A HRM Quandary

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3. Chau, Adelle. (2017, Nov 09). Do male and female workers actually behave differently?
http://hrmonline.co.nz/news
4. Smith Shawn, The HR answer book: an indispensable guide for Managers and HR
professionals.
5. Sutcliffe, Josie. (2015, April 02). The great HR Gender divide. http://www.visier.com
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