Mythbusting Mondays: Easy Female Managers

I was wondering what in the world I could write about this week, as I’m not one hundred percent up to  date with all the myths surrounding feminism out there. I considered my post from last week, and decided to further the issues for women in the workforce  by talking about feminine management today. One myth I came across in my search for feminist topics concluded that women have come to be known as “easy” managers. They’re pushed around (by men) more than male management and viewed as a roadblock in the way of a man’s trip to the top. However, any person that works under a woman manager can clearly see that this is indeed not always (if at all) the situation. I happen to work for a restaurant that’s comprised of one man and three women. The women dominate the scene, and everyone knows they won’t be taking any crap. They hold their own position, and are extremely assertive both with the associates and customers. On top of their attitudes, they keep the place exceptionally organized and are usually very well prepared for the start of each day. To juxtapose this environment, I consider the SAME restaurant I worked at back home, and have a completely different experience with the management team. There, managers were predominantly male, with one or two females thrown in to offset the disproportionate ratio. The male manager was concerned with respect, and sales reports, while they lost sight of the employees at hand. The male manager took more days off than the female managers in the past, took days to go golfing with the boss, instead of inviting them down to the cafe to explore the wonderful environment we (as a team) created. The male managers were focused more on their salary, how much they could make as an individual, while I had never heard one of the women managers talk about her paycheck, just about improving the overall sales, so everyone would be able to get a raise. Finally, the female managers had longevity the male managers couldn’t  seem to muster. They lasted in their authoritative positions for at least double the time the men did.

At first, this myth wasn’t so irksome to me. I thought yeah, yeah, we’ve heard this one before… women are soft, and sensitive, and nurturing to others. Still, it bothered me that people could be so ignorant, especially when they themselves are experiencing women’s ability in their own jobs! It’s called opening our eyes people. A myth is only a myth, not a reality until we choose to make it one. We reinforce feminine stereotypes everyday when we belittle a woman for making a mistake by referring her to gendered norms as the basis for her error, instead of seeing her flaw as a human one. Why is it that men can screw up a million times, walk around like he’s the king of the jungle, and no one says a word? Are we scared or just expect that kind of behavior? Is that really a positive person that impacts our lives for the better, or do we simply equate it to “men being men?” Before we start criticizing women for being too soft, maybe we should examine the harsh alternatives men provide us with everyday. Maybe then we’ll see… women rock.