Empowerment: A Perspective on the Women of Today and Tomorrow

COVER STORY

-- Kathleen Patterson
Associate Professor,
School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship,
Regent University, VA, USA.
The author can be reached at
kathpat@regent.edu

Empowerment is a concept that is of equal importance to both men and women. This idea of sharing power is not a concept which is unique to men or women alone. In fact, it is a concept that is touted and desired by all. However, having said this, issues surrounding women in leadership and in the workforce, are seemingly defined by gender at times. While this is a legitimate concern at times, at other times, it is irrelevant. We will look at the concept of empowerment and see how this idea looks from the perspective of women in the workforce.

This article specifically addresses the reality of women in the workforce, while expressly speaking to leaders to know and understand the full engagement of women, by looking into the concept of empowerment as a rich concept, that includes sharing power and enabling others. In addition, this article bridges together, the imperative of women in the workforce and the concept of empowerment by sharing ideas on how to empower followers, ways to energize others, and finally, strategies to empower women. Leaders who recognize the value of women, the value of empowerment, and the value of empowering women will be the very leaders who set themselves apart for personal success, while also setting the stage for the success of others—a pretty good deal by anyone's standards.

Women in the Workforce

Women have a firm presence in the workforce and leaders, who invest time and resources to draw upon this reality, are the leaders who are fully aware and engaged with their workforce. In fact, the reality is that women make up for quite a large contingent of the actual workforce. Studies show that working women have increased nearly six-fold, since the 1970s, which is not surprising when we see that women in colleges and universities hover around the 50% line, showing that women are actively seeking to be ready for the world and the workforce. In fact, women's participation in the workforce has been on the rise, with studies showing an increase in women, representing 27.8% of the workforce. Ignoring women as a valuable asset is ignoring over a quarter of the value of one's organization. The smart leader will be the one who will not only recognize this large group but also utilize the strengths and abilities that this group represents.
While women have traditionally been seen as the quiet workers, typically working in the home or in low-key roles, things seem to have been changing over the last many decades. Some of these changes have been seen as positive, while some others as negative. While this article will not tackle those issues, the fact remains that many women feel the struggle, as some women are delegated to lower levels of work.
Before we take a `doom and gloom' perspective, this is not the total picture. The truth is that many women in our world will only experience low levels of work, but the other truth is that many women will have fantastic opportunities that will allow them the rise to mid to high-level positions. The key is the opportunity for growth and empowerment. However, not all women will experience this.
In fact, in many nations, social norms and customs dictate the level of involvement of women in life and work, as well as in the very idea of empowerment, which is certainly not limited to the workforce but extends to the level of participation in the society at large, including involvement in associations, causes, events, etc. These social norms and customs are unique to each culture and women in these cultures will need to seek the boundaries and address the specific limitations and possibilities that inherently exist. When women fully know and understand such boundaries, they will be successful at working within the limitations, while seeking necessary change, when and where suitable.

Empowerment

Empowerment is the focus of a great and rather interesting debate. Empowerment, simply, is the idea of sharing power, of truly giving it away. Thought of in a simple manner, empowerment is the leader giving someone his/her power to be used on his behalf. And yet, there is much more to this idea, which also involves high degrees of trust and enablement.

Trust

The empowerment relationship is bound by many things, especially trust. A high level of trust is needed, by all parties involved, in order to share power. Trust is crucial to the empowerment process, for both, the leader (who trusts the employees to share his power and believes that it will be appropriately used) as well as the employee(s) (who receives the power and trust in their leader's perspective to use these moments appropriately).

Enablement

Well-known for their insights on empowerment, Conger and Kanungo, share that the idea of empowerment in the workforce, is directly linked to the following: managerial and organizational effectiveness, power and control within the organization, the growth of subordinates within an organization, and increased team-building in organizational life. Building on the work of these researchers, who show that power is more than sharing power, the idea of enabling others, arises. The ability to enable others is not new, and yet for leaders, this can be complicated. Enabling others involves sharing power, but here is the main distinction—it also involves the leader taking the time to prepare the person for that power usage.

Bringing it All Together and Moving Forward

So, women in the workforce is a reality, and we see that empowerment works, so what does all this mean, when we bring them together? The answer is that it will work differently in different settings. Both researchers and practitioners cannot pretend to gauge the ideas of women and empowerment in a `one size fits all' package. While this would be nice, it is not feasible, when we consider that the global context prevails and what works in the west would also work in the east and what works in the east works in the west, and so on. Other limitations such as cultural norms and organizational and industry norms exist.
What is considered norm in one organization or industry cannot be parlayed into other organizations and industries. All this to say, the opus lies with the leader (perhaps this is you), who can make decisions and strategies that will encourage and foster stable working environments for women and empowerment. This is a high responsibility, we can all agree, and yet the benefits are enormous. Leaders, who take the time to recognize the grand value of women, as well as the grand value of empowering others, will be the leaders who take their departments and organizations to the next level.
So, how do leaders turn the empowerment process into a fruitful one? Turning again to Conger and Kanungo, we find valuable insights into how leaders can improve the empowerment process: express confidence in subordinates, foster opportunities, provide autonomy without constraints, and set meaningful goals. These ideas are a great starting point for all leaders, if leaders can shift the tide from a dormant department or organization into a full-bodied endeavor. The possibilities seem endless for both the organization and the people, including women.
In addition, Michael Hyatt (CEO of Thomas Nelson) suggests five ways to energize others and earn the respect of the team. First, assume that others are smart and hard-working. When leaders assume the best in others, surely, the best comes out! When employees are believed in, they often will rise to the occasion. It is about providing the opportunity to do so. Secondly, listen intently and ask thoughtful questions. Employees desperately desire to be listened to, to be really heard, and when leaders take the time to listen, they often learn quite a bit. Third, acknowledge the sacrifices others have made for you. This principle is true for all employees, but certainly important for women in the workforce who desire to be acknowledged and appreciated. Fourth, express gratitude for efforts and results. Leaders, who take the time to recognize the moments and contributions from employees, are the very leaders who know their employees well enough to empower them. And finally, remind others why their work is important and the difference that they make. Again, all employees like to feel as if they are valuable contributors to the organization, and many women who make the sacrifice to enter the workforce need this validation. Leaders who remind employees of the imperative of their work are kind leaders, who, in turn, share this kindness with others.
What are the strategies for leaders to empower women with success? First, start with creating structures that work for women; this might include flexible schedules or time/job sharing. Structures that are friendly will create opportunities. More often than not, if the opportunities are there, women will certainly follow and seek these out. Secondly, provide the needed training and resources. We cannot expect any employee to move ahead into greater opportunities, if we do not provide the necessities it takes to get there. This is monumentally true for women, who may not have discretionary income to seek training and educational opportunities outside the workplace. Thirdly, and finally, create a culture of respect. Leaders who create cultures that respect all employees usually have little issues with gender conflicts, as the culture is based on respect with dignity of human value. What leaders pay attention to, and how they set the standards will most often be emulated by the entire workforce. Leaders must never underestimate the value of their actions and the standards that they set.

Conclusion

The present issues of women will probably be the issues of tomorrow. However, the intensity of these issues will be different. Why? This will be because we will take the time to see that women are great contributors to the workforce, are assets of great value to the organization, and that when we, as leaders, take the time to empower women, we are creating teams-departments-organizations that are rich in culture, diversity and life. The added value of women is a value, leaders must not overlook and certainly must not miss. Indeed, the leaders who recognize this grand opportunity will be the leaders charging the way into the future. Will there be some leaders who will actively discriminate against women? Sure, this is a reality. However, there will also be those leaders who will fairly provide opportunities to women, and this is also the reality. And yet, we are on the right track. When we can take our eyes off the elements such as gender, race, religion, handicap, etc., that truly do not matter when we can fully open our eyes to the essence of a person and engage that person as a worthy viable person, then we have a winning moment for ourselves as leaders and for our employees.
The summation of the matter is that women, all over the world, desire to be of great value to their families and societies. For some women, this includes entering the workforce and working with the best that they have to give. For some women, this engagement will be at lower levels, while for some others, it will tread deeper into higher levels of engagement. All deserve the opportunity to be as engaged as they desire to be, as well as have the ability to provide opportunities for empowerment, giving and receiving, as some women will be in the position to share the power and some will be the beneficiaries. The bottom line is this: when women are empowered, everyone wins.