Women in Corporate World: Walking the Tight Rope

Abstract

In this article, we bring to you different aspects of gender stereotyping and its deeper implications on women working in the corporate. The study conformed to Double-Bind Dilemma for Women in Leadership: Damned if You Do, Doomed if You Don’t, Catalyst series sponsored by IBM Corporation, which also examined barriers to women’s advancement, and indicated how gender stereotypes can create several predicaments for women leaders. It indicated how cultural conditioning and unintended biases at workplace seemed to playing a big role in gender stereotyping. The study also indicated that the dilemma of double bind affected not only the perceptions of others, but also perceptions of women themselves, leading to a confusion in the style of leadership to be adopted at workplace, and reduced confidence in their selves. Many women respondents also attributed the underestimation of their capability to their upbringing, and socio-cultural factors that pre-determined the superiority of men over women in society leading to women ‘belittling’ themselves in some manner.