Unfortunately I agree with that statement. Even in today’s society I believe that a woman must act like a man to be respected in a leadership position. They cannot seem weak or someone else with step on them, hypothetically of course. I believe, even without experience, that in the business world or any job that has the opportunity for advancement, there will be someone that is willing to do anything to reach the top. It is just human nature to want to be powerful and successful. Most of those fighting for these positions are men and men are rough by nature and there are a lot that will step on anyone for a raise or leadership position. Women can not show any weakness when they are working with and against these monsters if they don’t want to be stepped on. It is sad but that’s how I feel. Women do have one weapon that men don’t have. It is sad to see women use this weapon instead of just, for lack of a better phrase, “manning up.”

An example of a women showing weakness was Hilary Clinton crying while campaigning for President. For me, this was when she really hurt her chances for getting the Democratic nomination. She was criticized for being weak and was questioned on her ability to confront other world leaders. Who would vote for a President that cries in public? I sure wouldn’t. Now you may think running for President is a little different than a women leading up a business group but they are similar. If your leader started crying in front of you, what would you do? I would probably lose some confidence in them…depending on the circumstances (If a family member dies, I am all for crying). Even if the leader was a man, crying would show weakness. Weakness is the enemy for any leader. Weakness is associated with women more than men which leads people to have a predisposition toward women leaders.

I believe this is why we have not had any women Presidents, and why we just recently had our first women Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi. Many people still do not trust that a woman could be able to make important decisions. In an episode of King of the Hill, the Hill’s church gets a new preacher who is a woman. Hank’s father has a major problem with this. He doesn’t believe she could handle running a church. I realize this was a cartoon but it still shows the point I’m trying to make. Women must not show weakness (i.e. be manly) if they want to be respected as a leader, but even then there will be some who do not have faith in them.