Book Review - Closing the Leadership: Gap Why Women Can and Must Help Run the World

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Barriers to Leadership authors view

The author points out that many Americans are ready for a woman as President and feel by the year 2009 we will see this occur. The majority of the American people state females hold many leadership roles and why not a woman President. They do not understand why so many women focus on the issue that women are still not treated equally to their male counterparts. The author views this lack of understanding as people do not believe there is a problem. She addresses the gubernatorial race of 2002 where 26 women ran in 20 different states and out of these only ten won. She refers to the campaign ads of the time and how the female ads were all about proving yourself worthy to run whereas the male ads had nothing to prove. They were at the advantage simply because they were male.

According to the author, 92.1 percent of the clout titles held are held by men. She attributes this to the fact that men are more assertive and in control whereas women are more focused on “inclusiveness, broader focus on issues, communication, and empathy.” (Wilson, p.21). Of course she points out that Mayor Rudy Giuliani and President Bush showed their softer side during the event of September 11th, 2001. She also points out that in order for corporate America to make things more equal between the men and women in the workplace it would cost billions or dollars and a lot of reorganization of how corporations operate. To the author when the word leader is utilized, most people envision a male. In order to change this view the word needs to be redefined.

A very interesting set of letters were referred to by this author and they were conversations between John Quincy Adams and his wife Abigail. Abigail goes on to congratulate her husband on declaring independence during the war and desires women to be viewed as equals and not treated as they were by their ancestors. She wanted the power to be equally shared so that tyranny would not prevail. She even threatened him with the fact that women would rebel. His response to her was to tell her he was laughing as he read her letter. Of course she wrote back in utter annoyance and if she had the backing of other women in her community she could have made good on her threat to rebel. Ultimately she had to give in and learn her place so to speak.

Barriers to Leadership my review

This is one area of the author’s book that I am in complete agreement with. She points out very clearly the struggles and the barriers women have faced throughout the years. She addresses the Scarlett Letter where a woman was forced to where the letter A because she committed adultery. The man was not punished because he did not come forward nor did the woman ever speak out about whom she committed adultery with. The truth was only discovered when the man was on his death bed and even then since he was a Reverend people were not as judgmental. If the man would have come forward when the woman did would his punishment be the same? The treatment of women throughout history reminds me of Eve being enticed to partake of the forbidden fruit and coaxing Adam to take the bite. Because of this Eve is viewed as creating the downfall of humanity and turning us all into sinners. So it seems that society as a whole has viewed women as the lesser gender and we should bow down before man in idol worship. “From a woman sin had its beginning and because of her we all die.” (Forsyth, 2007, p.8).

Authority author’s view

The author points out the in order for women to be viewed as leaders they must be viewed as figures in authority. She speaks about her days in Iowa when teachers wanted to job share and the district would not allow it so the teachers sued. The author was one of their expert witnesses and when the lawyers approached they stated she was not an expert. The author goes on to convince herself they might be correct. However she was an expert because of her position and authority. The problem was the lawyers were questioning her expertise and this caused her to question it as well. She uses Elizabeth Dole as a figure of authority and goes on to speak about her leadership as a Republican yet during her campaign, she was only mentioned in one out of every five articles as opposed to one of her opponents Al Gore. The authors conclusion is the lack of mention hindered her candidacy. When she ran again, Senator McCain “received twice as many mentions in press articles.” (Wilson, p.36). Sadly the media compared Dole’s appearance Tammy Faye Baker and the Home Shopping Network.

She addresses woman who ran for Governor in several states and how the media if a male journalist is reporting refers to how the candidate is dressed or some personal characteristics while the female journalist reports on the personal characteristics of both genders. When women campaign they have to know every detail about every little thing that happened two hundred years ago, while the men can get away with making statements that are not always factual. “Our male counterparts can say whatever they want. It can make sense or not make sense. But women have to work much harder….For women, there is always that little bit of built-in insecurity about having to know every single thing about every single ting when you stand up.” (Wilson, p.49).

While the author was in management, she worked on training programs to integrate men and women in the workplace. During exercises, the men would always speak with great authority even if they did posses all the facts. The women were hesitant to speak until they had every little detail and then again did not speak with conviction. Because of this, women are painted as mediocre and not to be viewed as an expert in any subject. When our expertise is ignored it is difficult to be viewed as someone in a leadership role or authority. In order for us to be seen as authoritative, we should act and do what men do when campaigning. We should wear clothing that is formal, use active language, use an impressive backdrop and discuss our credentials.

Authority my review

While reading this particular chapter I was very disturbed by women who have the authority feeling like their authority is treaded upon when challenged. In reading how the author felt when this happened to her and her reaction, I was saddened. I look at women in authority totally different then the author. If you have a position of authority, then that is that. Look at yourself in the mirror and have enough confidence in yourself to show others that you have the authority and you will not question or doubt yourself. Women that question their power when they have that