KICKER: Equality
Stuck in the past
Mankind has a come a long way when it comes to gender discrimination. It used to be a man’s world but the twenty first century woman has almost all the rights that a man does — almost. However, we are still being paid 75 per cent of men’s wages and still don’t get equal opportunities.
According to new research by the UCL School of Management, women take competition with other women too seriously, and this is turning out to be detrimental to their careers. “Women experience competition with same-gender coworkers more negatively than men do because female peer culture values harmony and equality, and competition is at odds with the norm of female relationships,” says Assistant Professor Sun Young Lee
When we are children, we don’t see the world as black and white; rather a different array of colours. However, as we grow up, society teaches us things that are ingrained in our minds that we can’t get rid of. One of those things is gender stereotyping. It is unfair to generalise all women as being competitive with each other in an unhealthy way, which the study has done. I think a lot of us can be professional and thick skinned and it isn’t because we are used to ‘fighting’ for our rights, but because that is our personality.
Furthermore, if career advancement was heavily dependent on gender, we wouldn’t have the need to hire specific personalities for specific jobs. A leader can only be good if he or she has certain personality traits — it has nothing to do with gender.
In my opinion, taking competition too seriously is not the only factor that affects a woman’s career. Your talent and how hard you work plays a huge role in achieving success. A person is more than just their gender, it’s time we accept that.
From Ms Rujman Ishtiaq Ahmad
Media student based in Sharjah
KICKER: Delusion
We need to move forward
With regards to the new research by UCL School of Management on women in the workplace, it is unfair to say that competition is the reason why women struggle to reach leadership positions. There are a lot of other factors that play a major role in deciding whether or not you will be promoted to a higher position. Considering the different factors that play a major role, same gender colleagues are probably the least of them.
However, it is true that female peer culture values harmony and equality and that competition comes at odds with that, but that is not to say that men don’t share similar values or that they would deal with competition in a better way. Men and women have long argued about equality and the importance to give everyone an equal chance, and being in the 21st century, one would think that we have moved past that stage, but apparently not.
What is the point with UN Women Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson introducing the ‘HeForShe’ campaign if we are later going to come up with a research stating that women can’t handle competition well, something that men can. Have we not learnt anything? Are we always going to be stuck in the past and value women based on what we think that they are capable of?
It is about time that we stand up for gender equality and put an end to it, once and for all. Women are no different than men and there is nothing that proves that men are better at competition than women are. The sooner we realise that we are on the same level, the better it will be for our societies — that is when we can finally collaborate.
From Ms Fatme Faraj
Pharmacist based in Gothenburg, Sweden
KICKER: History
Women are competitive by nature
I am undecided whether competitive workplaces hold women back from leadership positions as I think that it has more to do with your personality than the gender that you belong to. Some women might be more fragile than others, thereby struggle with same-gender colleagues, but it can also be that you sense competition with your male counterpart. For as long as we can all remember, and more, women have been fighting for their rights, whether it is the right to drive, vote or work.
However, I disagree with correlating competition with their quest to equality as I do not think that it has any relevance. Saying that competition does not hold women back, rather makes them stronger, simply because they are used to fighting for their rights would be as stereotypical to say as to deny women equal pay at the work place. On one hand, we talk about achieving equality, but on the other hand we make sweeping statements that completely contradicts the former.
However, judging from history, women are very competitive by nature, and that is seen in their quest to ‘win’ their basic rights, so yes, they do take competition very seriously, but I do not think that this is detrimental to their careers. They are used to having to ‘fight’ for what they want so it definitely runs in them and we have seen that, but if we are going to judge them based on that, it should then be the fact that they can’t handle competition with men, rather than same gender.
From Mr Salah Al Marzouqi
Student based in Brisbane, Australia
KICKER:
From Ms Sherouk Zakaria
Media person based in Sharjah
— Compiled by Donia Yassinson/Community Web Editor
