Do corporate gender roles need to be equal?

How could anyone possible suggest that macho cultures are fairer to women? The very idea is unreasonable and unrealistic. But, perhaps Avivah Wittenerg-Cox has found a chink the macho armor.

Ms. Wittenerg-Cox is CEO of a major international gender consulting firm.  She writes about a very interesting difference between corporate cultures. While the trend continues of more women graduating college than men, the number of senior executive positions remains male dominated. However, the point of interest is that the male/female gender ratio is changing more dramatically in newer economies in Latin America as compare to the older economies of Europe and North America.

It seems a dichotomy that macho cultures based countries like Brazil and Chile, could both have women as their Presidents and have a higher percentage of women senior executives. According to a 2012 Grant Thornotn gender balance survey 27% of senior executive positions are help by women in Brazil and only 17% of such positions are help by women in the United States. 

Ms. Wittenerg-Cox sees this difference as a strange mix of corporate and social culture. The macho based cultures such as Brazil view women differently. Their corporate interest is less about gender equality and more about how gender balance through differences creates opprotunities for competive advantage.

Macho Brazilian men surveyed said they had no problem working for a woman boss so long as she was “a woman” [translation meaning not the masculine type].

Conversely, US and UK corporate managers are focused on gender issues not as an opportunity but as a problem to be resolved in terms of equality.

Unfortunately, there is not sufficient information to determine if salaries, benefits and other corporate perks for female Brazilian women are on par with men. And, it doesn’t tell us what kinds of feminine skills women are contributing within the macho culture that are considered important for a competitive advantage.

However, obviously something is going on to warrant closer examination since this different perspective is placing more women in senior executive positions than any other country.

Source:

Macho Cultures Are Fairer for Women by Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, Harvard Business Review http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/04/macho_cultures_are_fairer_for.html?referral=00563&cm_mmc=email-_-newsletter-_-daily_alert-_-alert_date&utm_source=newsletter_daily_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alert_date