Historical roles of men and women in leadership

While analyzing professions held by men verses those held by women through history, the concept of history that needs to be observed is a vast period of time. For if all or most of known history about humans is not taken into consideration, then much of present day analysis of leadership gender roles might actually start to make sense. The previous sentence was not an error in thought or printing. Much of modern analysis of gender perspectives in leadership and the roles of men and women seem to forget the thousands of years of history and the more recent, evolution of gender equality, which has taken place to get to where we are at present day. The key word is evolution; we are slowly but steadily evolving into a better and more efficient society through gender equality. The meaning better society is one that will optimally utilize its best resources, including people. The past and the ignorance reflected from parts of history are most often overcome with generations of thought and action. Genders in society maybe not are equal quite yet, but through diligent efforts and time, they will be. There is much history and time to overcome to achieve equality.
Typically, throughout history men have been the breadwinners in a family unit. Women in the past typically did more of the upkeep of the home and did not bring in an additional income. When they did bring an income, it was usually in some lesser complimentary role to the male. This situation holds true for married couples or single people. Different people throughout the world have many different histories. An example from Chinua Achebe’s novel that takes place within a tribe in Africa during the 1920s stating that a strong man will have many wives (Achebe 20). Ironically in this same novel, it is shown that women could hold a priestess position. Similarly on the other side of the globe in South Korea, the view of giving birth to a girl is somewhat less elation than that of having a boy. In the Korean culture, when a couple has a girl, it is looked upon as if the parents are raising the child for someone else; the baby girl’s future husband (Ahn par.4) .So how can so many people that populate the earth all have similar histories that guided men towards certain roles and professions while guiding women towards others? To analyze the many histories of people, a person must look t...

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...major religion’s beginnings at or around 2500 B.C., and to see the vast amount of time that has elapsed to get to the point at which we are at in today’s society, is a bit discomforting. To move though 4500 years and still not have gender equality is kind of surprising. One could take consolation in the fact that a great majority of this progression towards gender equity has occurred in the last 100 years. Things in society look as if we are on the right track now.

Works Citied
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Anchor Books, 1994
Ahn, Hyontok. The Korean-American Experience. Personal Experiences 10.2 (2003) 8 pars. 5 December 2003 http://www.KoreanWivesAssocoiation/PA.com.
Klenke, Karin. Women and Leadership: A Contextual Perspective. New York: Springer Publishing Company, 1996.
The Holy Bible. New International Version. Starting Point Study Bible. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002.
Thompson, J. & Thompson, W. Margaret Thatcher: Prime minister indomitable. Boulder, CO: Westveiw Press, 1994.