Surname 7 Student’s Name Professor’s Name Course Date How Unconsciously Held Gender Stereotypes Affect Women at the Work Place Introduction In a speech she presented on TED Talk, Adichie (n.p) explained the dangers of only hearing one story about a person, a culture, a gender, a nation, a war and generally any phenomenon that possibly has more than one side to the story. Through her speech Adichie informed her audience just how powerful one story was in imprinting a perception in the mind of its audience that could both be upheld for an individual’s lifetime and transferred or passed down to the individuals generations. Her speech speaks of how culture has worked since time immemorial in defining gender roles, ethics and moral values and even more, cultural beliefs. Reflecting on the idea of gender stereotypes, I agree with Adichie (n.p) that one story can be destructive and its effects can be difficult but not impossible to undo. Many would deny that not only do gender stereotypes exist in the twenty first century but that they continue to define what roles men and women should perform in the society. For instance, the article by the Singapore Management University (n.p) revealed that even in a post gender-stereotypical age, men continued to be preferred to hold the majority seats of leadership and boardroom positions as compared to women who continued to be preferred to follow instead of to lead. West (n.p) in a similar study disclosed that the reason why gender stereotypes continue to haunt the present day woman is because although society does not actively proclaim and pronounce the roles of men and women in society and at the workplace, individuals continue to carry what they learnt were each gender’s roles as children and embrace those gender roles. For example, men in the past were considered to be bread winners, professionals and leaders. Women on the other hand were considered to be individuals who were required to spend more time at home and less time at work. Although these stereotypes sound outdated and forgotten, Mariani (202) explains how individuals continue to uphold and unconsciously live by the gender stereotypes among other stereotypes they learnt in their past as they grew up. Therefore, although more women are encouraged to take up more competitive and scientific courses at school, when it comes to hiring for the jobs, most organizations still consider that men are better for such positions and prefer to hire men instead of women despite the fact that all candidates may show equal qualification, possess similar skill sets and demonstrate equivalent experience levels. Significance of the Study For this report, the single story that that we focus on that has been passed on from generation to generation, more unconsciously than it has consciously, is that a woman’s place is first at home and then or not all in a boardroom or leadership position. For that reason, society has secretly either demanded more of a woman inter.

1. Surname 7
Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Course
Date
How Unconsciously Held Gender Stereotypes Affect Women at
the Work Place
Introduction
In a speech she presented on TED Talk, Adichie (n.p) explained
the dangers of only hearing one story about a person, a culture,
a gender, a nation, a war and generally any phenomenon that
possibly has more than one side to the story. Through her
speech Adichie informed her audience just how powerful one
story was in imprinting a perception in the mind of its audience
that could both be upheld for an individual’s lifetime and
transferred or passed down to the individuals generations. Her
speech speaks of how culture has worked since time
immemorial in defining gender roles, ethics and moral values
and even more, cultural beliefs. Reflecting on the idea of gender
stereotypes, I agree with Adichie (n.p) that one story can be
destructive and its effects can be difficult but not impossible to
undo.
Many would deny that not only do gender stereotypes exist in
the twenty first century but that they continue to define what
roles men and women should perform in the society. For
instance, the article by the Singapore Management University
(n.p) revealed that even in a post gender-stereotypical age, men
continued to be preferred to hold the majority seats of
leadership and boardroom positions as compared to women who
continued to be preferred to follow instead of to lead. West
(n.p) in a similar study disclosed that the reason why gender
stereotypes continue to haunt the present day woman is because
although society does not actively proclaim and pronounce the

2. roles of men and women in society and at the workplace,
individuals continue to carry what they learnt were each
gender’s roles as children and embrace those gender roles.
For example, men in the past were considered to be bread
winners, professionals and leaders. Women on the other hand
were considered to be individuals who were required to spend
more time at home and less time at work. Although these
stereotypes sound outdated and forgotten, Mariani (202)
explains how individuals continue to uphold and unconsciously
live by the gender stereotypes among other stereotypes they
learnt in their past as they grew up. Therefore, although more
women are encouraged to take up more competitive and
scientific courses at school, when it comes to hiring for the
jobs, most organizations still consider that men are better for
such positions and prefer to hire men instead of women despite
the fact that all candidates may show equal qualification,
possess similar skill sets and demonstrate equivalent experience
levels.
Significance of the Study
For this report, the single story that that we focus on that has
been passed on from generation to generation, more
unconsciously than it has consciously, is that a woman’s place
is first at home and then or not all in a boardroom or leadership
position. For that reason, society has secretly either demanded
more of a woman interested in a male dominated industry or
shamed her for pursuing such an opportunity over focusing
scoring a followers position instead of a leader’s one. Another
scenario is whereby society continued to demand that though a
woman studies the same fields as a man, achieves the same level
of expertise and experience, but nor e considered to be equally
as capable or skilled enough to make reliable decisions while at
work. In such environments, the men are looked upon as
qualified, while the women are scrutinized and forced to prove
that they deserve to be appointed a position that would have
been easily given to a man had he shown interest in it and with
less questions asked.

3. Statement of the Problem
In her article, Tebano (n.p) tells the story of Dr. Francesca
Dominici who is among the 1% of America’s leading scientists
in the field of bio-statistical analysis and has helped the
government of America to prevent, manage and solve a series of
environmental problems before. Dr. Dominici is also descried as
a professor at Harvard who has served in her department for
over ten years and worked closely with and over a team of men
where she was the only lady.
According to Tebano (n.p) although, Dr. Dominici has not only
earned her way to the top of her field and served in a team of
men for more than 10years as the only lady, she is still
subjected to explaining and justifying every decision she makes
even to her juniors, something she notes is not required of her
male colleagues. The problem is not that she has to reason out
with her team and subordinates on how she reached her
conclusions or why she made decisions but that she experiences
some demeaning conversations because unconsciously, her
colleagues understand that that industry is a masculine industry
and not a place for ladies.
Justification of the Study
I care about this topic because, after reading several reliable
sources which I will further explore in my study, I realized that
Dr. Dominici’s workplace is a representation of what a majority
of contemporary professional women experience in their places
of work, especially in organizations where the larger share of
leadership is comprised of men (West n.p). Furthermore, I not
only chose to explore this study because of the unnerving
statistics I came across that prove that unconscious gender
stereotyping is affecting women at the workplace but also
because I identified an opportunity to dispel the myth that
feminism brought an end to gender stereotypes and other subtle
forms of misogyny.
Research Questions
How have gender stereotypes been downplayed in the present
day society and what are the effects of these unconsciously held

4. gender stereotypes on women at the workplace? (Single Story =
Women are better being followers not leaders is a myth.)
Methodology
This research relied solely on secondary material to identify
gaps, collect information and draw reliable conclusions. This
research utilized the literary scholarly articles that will be
reviewed in this document. No data was collected primarily by
the researchers. However, the research analyzes, critiques,
compares and also evaluates different findings on the topic of
what unconscious gender stereotypes haunt women in
professional offices, the effects of those single story stereotypes
on women before providing recommendations for the women as
well as for society and stating the conclusion of this study.
Findings
Tebano’s (n.p) description of Dr. Dominic’s success as well as
her frustrations at the workplace as a result of gender bias
reveal that contemporary culture unconsciously upholds the
gender stereotypes of the 20th century and the times before that.
These unconsciously held gender stereotypes affect how the
current woman is viewed and treated at the place of work, at
places she pursues leadership roles and in society. Owing to
those stereotypes, not only are women expected to excel at their
domestic and nursing chores at home but they are also expected
to be exceptional if they are to command any respect at their
places of work. Then again, Dr. Dominici is proof that a single
story can cloud out all the excellent qualities a woman leader
can possess and subject her to having to justify her every
thought and action because women are not associated with great
leadership, expertise or mastery in skills. Some of the
unconsciously held gender stereotypes and their effect on
women that continue to taunt the present day professional
woman are discussed below.
1. A woman’s priority should be establishing her household and
not pursuing a career.
Before feminism convinced the woman that she too had a right
to pursue art, talent, careers and her wildest dreams, society had

5. labelled a good woman as one who put aside everything to be a
wife and a mother (Amoruso 13). Any woman that thought of
pursuing a career or a hobby other than one that made her a
better wife and a better woman was considered to be a rebel and
uncultured. Women were uncomfortable with the idea but it was
the single story that had been preached and famed that it was
difficult to argue otherwise.
However with time, women rose to positions of power and
leadership and excelled as family persons as well but that single
story’s root had not been uprooted from the minds of society.
Unfortunately, in the contemporary times, women are shamed
for issues such as how fast they return to work after a maternity
leave or how many hours they spend at their work place instead
of their homes. Worse, the same society that advocates for
women to work hard and prove themselves in the workplace is
the same society that shames the same women for being
workaholic and abandoning their homes to play bread winner.
2. Women are better followers than they are leaders.
For most organizations, the traditional rule that considered men
a better instructor and a woman a better executor of those
instructions are still silently accepted and observed. The
authority of a man seems to be taken more seriously and even
esteemed more highly as compared to that of a woman. Women
who are strict are either viewed to be bossy or assumed to be
harsh, arrogant and even often presumed to always be in a bad
mood or irritable. On the other hand, men who would lead in the
same harsh way, would be looked upon with respect and
considered to be authoritative, in control and even effective
because they are presumed to know what they want, be result
oriented and be task oriented.
On the flip side of leadership styles, when a woman leader takes
up a friendlier approach and chooses to be more of a
transformative or even democratic leader rather than an
autocratic leader, she is presumed to lack in the knowledge of
how to run a company. Some of her employees may also mistake
leadership initiatives such as creating open channels of

6. communication to mean that she was inviting them to develop
other work unrelated relationships. Therefore it can be
concluded that whatever leadership style a woman takes up to
run her enterprise can always be
Recommendations
First, society needs to be conscious of how the unconscious and
unintentional gender stereotypes they project on professional
women affect not only the working women but also the
generations that follow. Society should be constantly trained
and educated on the negative effects of those stereotypes and
provided with practical lessons that can be employed to
eliminate those stereotypes once and for all. Encouraging the
idea of society leaders demonstrating how effective role
reversal can be a practical way for teaching society that some
stereotypical gender roles are misinformed and backward. Also,
offices should ensure that their work schedules are flexible to
allow women to pursue their careers without neglecting their
social life and homely duties. At the offices, employees should
be trained on such issues to ensure that they recognize their
toxic thoughts before those thoughts manifest into actions.
Women should not have to choose between their carries and
their gender. They should not also be undervalued at work or
questioned based on their gender. Finally, women should not
also be forced to conform to outdated gender stereotypes that
society I unconsciously carries and subjects on women. There
are several effective strategies that society can employ that will
work to ensure that professional women are no longer subjected
to or haunted by unconsciously held stereotypes that were the
result of one incomplete and inaccurate story about the
capability and the role of the woman.
Works Cited
“The 21st Century Woman” Singapore Management University.
Web. 31st January 2017.
<https://www.smu.edu.sg/perspectives/2017/01/31/21st-century-
woman>

7. Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. “The Danger of a Single Story.”
TED, July 2009,
www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_singl
e_story.
Amoruso, Sophia. # Girlboss. Portfolio, 2015.
Mariani, Ronda. "THE UNCONSCIOUS BIAS." Human
Resources Management Issues, Challenges and Trends:" Now
and Around the Corner" (2019): 201
Tebano Elena. “Harvard’s Italian Genius Saving the
Environment in Maths.” Corriere Della Sera, 28th November
2016, https://www.corriere.it/english/16_novembre_28/harvard-
s-italian-genius-saving-the-environment-with-maths-9eab5fa6-
b58f-11e6-a2c1-e1ab33bf33ae.shtml?refresh_ce-cp
West, Sara. M. “Men and Women in the 21st century” National
Union of Students. 21st November 2014,
https://www.nus.org.uk/en/lifestyle/roles-of-men-and-women-
in-the-21st-century/
Week 4 Assignment
Read Case 6-1 “Enterprise Architecture at American Express”
and then answer the following questions. What are the key
components of the architecture American Express has created?
Discuss twp advantages and three disadvantages of standard
enterprise architecture for American Express? How might they
address the disadvantages? Your answers should be in your
own words, but should also incorporate (and cite) key terms and
concepts from the reading and lectures for this week’s
assignment. Your submission should be approximately be in
APA format, three full pages, double spaced, running header,
subheadings, in text citations and a reference list.
*You are expected to follow proper APA format in all submitted
work. Please note that the title, abstract, and reference page
included in your assignments DOES NOT count towards the
minimum page requirements. If a paper is to be a minimum of 5
pages, it is expected that you have 5 written pages plus the title,

8. abstract, and reference page.