Should Women Assert Themselves More in Workplaces?

Outline

Introduction

Assertiveness in workplaces

Conclusion 

Introduction 

The issue of women empowerment has been one of the most debated topics of the century. This fact comes with the rise of feminist theories that advocate for more involvement of women in the social spaces which include organizational politics, justice and education (Rayson, 2018). However, there is the role of the society and that of women themselves in ensuring more empowerment and more inclusivity. The women in general workplaces need to assert themselves more to ensure they compete fairly with men. This assertion is based on observation and research on workplaces. Women should move towards not only being allowed to compete for positions to going for top leaderships of organization.

Assertiveness in Workplaces 

There has been an increase in women participation in workforce since the industrial revolution. This fact incites the role of women in the development of organizations and the economic development of various countries. However, there are still more men in the workforce than women. For instance, there were 57% women in workforce compared to 69% male workers in the United States of America by 2018 (Thomas-Vaslin, 2020). This data implies that women are still more disadvantaged than men despite there being a difference of only 0.8 % in the populations of the two genders.

Essentially, it is important to consider that there has been the introduction of policies inclined to increasing the number of women in the workforce. Most organizations for instance, have put in place policies preferring women over men as an affirmative action to empower the female population as a marginalized group. Also most countries and organizations have enacted the 2/3 gender rule to ensure more female workers (Carbajal, 2018). However, even with these policies there are still more male leaders than women in organizations. 

The solution for the problems facing women in general workplaces such as lack of inclusion in leadership is the active participation. Women can assert themselves more by avoiding tokenism and fighting for equal opportunities. Tokenism has in various cases caused female contenders to appear weak and to seem as parties who are seeking sympathy rather than equal competitors (Arao & Clemens, 2013). Competing in grounds that seem hostile for women such as top leadership positions has in the past provided women leaders the undeniable chance to cut their niche and firmly root themselves in these positions. 

According to the theory of self-assertion, the absence of assertiveness is caused by the existence of fear of criticism, inadequate skills and lack of esteem. These statement illustrates that self-assertion will help women in the workplaces to gain more skills and develop self-esteem to tackle their competitors of the male gender. Significantly, asserting themselves is important as it will inspire motivation to go up the ranks within the organization (Carbajal, 2018). Arguably, instead of waiting to be awarded with positions, women should put effort to actively participate in establishing their presence and determining the direction of the organizations.

Conclusion

Significantly, the issue of inclusion of women is of global concern. Female workers should ensure that they assert themselves by engaging their male counterparts competitively. The entry of women into leadership positions within organizations is one of the ways of asserting themselves in workplaces. Creation of competition against other contenders will ensure that the discussion of inclusion goes beyond tokenism. In essence, female workers will be motivated to assert themselves in the event that more women succeed in positions that they have earned competitively.

References

Arao, B., & Clemens, K. (2013). From safe spaces to brave spaces. The art of effective facilitation: Reflections from social justice educators , 135-150.

Carbajal, J. (2018). Women and work: Ascending to leadership positions. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment , 28 (1), 12-27.

Rayson, D. (2018). Women’s Bodies and War: Bonhoeffer on Self-Assertion. In Rape Culture, Gender Violence, and Religion (pp. 119-141). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Thomas-Vaslin, V. (2020). Individuation and the organization in complex living ecosystem: recursive integration and self-assertion by holon-lymphocytes. Acta Biotheoretica , 68 (1), 171-199.