The 'Female businessman'
Powerful business women gain a 'catty' reputation
By Lori Sherman
Lifestyle Editor
Business-savvy or just ultrasexy? Women of 'The Apprentice' strip off their clothes; bulk up on stereotypes
'The Apprentice', a reality television show offering competitors a high-profile job next to real-estate tycoon Donald Trump, is causing a media stir. But take away the lights, cameras and Donald’s comb-over and you’re left with one of the key ingredients to the popular reality show: malicious females.
According to the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE) there is a lack of women in the business world and those who do hold administrative positions are commonly perceived as callous and unforgiving.
Ever since ‘The Apprentice’ hit the airwaves in spring of 2004, it appeared as though the boardroom had been permanently transformed from a place of strategic business deals to one of the hottest Hollywood film sets around.
The show, a combination of ‘Survivor’ and ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”, takes 18 contestants, splits them into two teams, and has them perform several business tasks. Trump watches from the sidelines and personally fires those he thinks aren’t ready to enter the cutthroat business world.
In the first two seasons of Donald Trump’s rating-monster, men came out victorious, with Bill Rancic and Kelly Perdew winning prestigious jobs with a Trump corporation.
However, the winnings left some of the female contestants questioning whether they were treated fairly.
“If men are aggressive, they are seen as being tough businessmen,” said Katrina Campins, a first-season contestant in an interview with television station, MSNBC. “If women are aggressive, we were labeled as emotional and we were fired because of it.”
Campins added that many of the scenes depicting the male contestants bickering with one another were edited out of the telecast.
NAFE reported last year only eight female chief executives were running Fortune 500 companies. As of 2001, BBC News reported only 12 per cent of executives holding managerial positions in the United States were women. It is speculated the same direct no-nonsense approach, which has proven successful for males wishing to raise the corporate ladder, may actually work against females.
Virginia Valian, author of the book, Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women, believes gender stereotypes are mostly to blame for the abundance of testosterone in the workplace. Females are expected to be more nurturing, compassionate and emotional whereas men are expected be more domineering, decisive and cutthroat.
“Of course I had heard the stereotypes before,” said third-year university business student Karoline Mazwski. “Yes, it will probably be a little tougher for me to get ahead and it doesn’t help that I might be perceived as some raging lunatic, but this is the career I chose and I’m going to stick with it.”
Mazwski, like other females entering the business world, is unsure of how to approach the touchy subject of discipline in the workplace.
“I want to be the boss and if that means I’ll have to be stern every once in a while, so be it,” said Mazwski.
Jean Hollands, founder and president of the Growth and Leadership Centre (GLC) in California, wants to show working females they don’t have to portray the ‘bitchy boss’ role to obtain respect in the office.
Hollands developed a program called ‘Bully Broads’, which teaches the “overly-assertive” corporate female how to be nice and still rise to the top.
Though some have touted the program as politically incorrect, Hollands believes her program, no matter how controversial it may be, will help further the careers of woman in the business-world.
“Unfortunately, many successful women are discovering too late that those same qualities that propelled them up the corporate ladder can just as easily ruin them,” said Hollands.
Ashley Jimenez, a second-year college student, hopes to open a restaurant after graduation. Though she receives high grades, Jimenez worries that she may not be “mean” enough to get the job.
"I’m not a very intimidating person and I think that in order to be successful you have to pretty tough."
"I think that women have to be 'that-much' meaner to not only get the job but to get the respect of the other employees as well. If your workers don’t respect you then they won’t listen to you and your business will fail," said Jimenez.
"Bitchy or not bitchy, woman are flooding businesses everywhere," said Mazwski. "Men just need to get used to our presence."
What do you think? Are women treated equally in the workplace? Do you have personal experience of discrimination? Leave your comments below: