Women’s rights have come a long way since the suffrage movement took place in the early 1900s, culminating in the 1920 amendment which granted women the right to vote. Today, there are women holding positions of political power, high-ranking professional positions, and working in nearly every industry that men can work in. Yet, despite having made all this progress, women are still struggling to earn leadership roles in fields traditionally dominated by men. They also earn, on average, 30 percent less than men, according to The Washington Post. If discrimination is to be truly eradicated in the workforce, employers will need to stop seeing applicants as men and women, but rather simply as neutral potential employees.
To combat the stereotype of women being incompetent leaders, some women in authoritative positions have resorted, oddly enough, to behaving like macho men. They become callous, mean, and unwavering, acting much like the stereotypical "evil boss villain" seen in television shows and movies. This leadership style, while effective in command, also earns the women leaders an ill reputation as being cold and heartless bosses. Yet, when women soften up, they can be viewed as being too weak, which is automatically blamed on their gender. This double standard is best exemplified by the way the public reacted to U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton during the 2008 presidential primaries. The media often criticized Clinton for being too masculine and detached. Clinton even went as far as to deciding to opt out of appearing in fashion magazine Vogue because she feared she would appear "too feminine." Interestingly, her male rival, Barack Obama, appeared in the magazine without any issues. This incident only cemented the idea that Clinton was afraid of her own femininity working against her. Yet, her fear proved to be somewhat founded because when Clinton cried on camera, she was immediately lambasted for being too feminine and weak. This reaction further ingrains the thought that women must be mannish in order to be powerful leaders, though women being "too masculine" is also seen as a negative by many people.
Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue, criticized Clinton’s fear of appearing too feminine, stating that America has since moved on from the "power-suit mentality" where women had to act like men to be in positions of power. However, whether this is true or not remains to be seen. Women will only truly find workplace equality once the distinctions between men and women are no longer at the forefront of water cooler discussions.
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