Companies urged to welcome gender differences

Michelle Swafford

Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2005 | 10:54 a.m.

If women and men can embrace their differences, businesses would be more successful, a professor of management told women business leaders Tuesday.

Judy Rosener, a professor in the graduate school of management at the University of California, Irvine, told nearly 200 members of the Las Vegas chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners that progress is being made, but more work needs to be done.

National statistics confirm that an increasing number of women are taking on leadership roles -- many through their own firms -- and Nevada ranked No. 1 for its growth in women-owned businesses from 1997 to 2004. The Center for Women's Business Research reported that Nevada's women-owned firms increased 48 percent, compared with a national increase of 28 percent from 1997 to 2004.

"The problem is not that we're different," said Rosener, who has studied gender differences for 20 years and written two books. "I see difference as added value. The problem is we (women) value the way men do things and we feel that if we don't act like they do, then there's something wrong."

Historically, men have run most of society's institutions: government, church and the military, she said.

"We have to look at our organizations and see where men's attributes are more effective and where women's attributes are more effective," she said after her speech.

Women have attributes that can be beneficial to businesses, such as being adaptable and noticing subliminal cues, which can help when dealing with different cultures, she told luncheon attendees.

Women may not be warmly welcomed into many leadership positions because they are generally thought of as support staff and men subconsciously tend to hire other men because they can comfortably understand and predict them, she said.

Men and women communicate differently and that is one of the things that can cause discomfort between the two genders, she said.

"Women think while they're talking," Rosener said. "Men think and then talk. One is not better, it's just different."

Those differences are what lead many women to assume leadership positions by opening their own businesses. Smaller businesses have an easier time adapting than larger corporations because there is less hierarchy in small firms, she said.

Whether women start their own firms or work their way up the corporate ladder, all businesses should expand their cultures to better understand the opposite sex, she said.

Women have to think about men's situations and be sensitive to their views. For example, women should make men feel comfortable by showing men that when women win, it does not mean men lose, Rosener said.

"If you take away the glass ceiling, you take away their floor," she said. "They have a fear of falling."

Betty Mahalik, president of the Las Vegas NAWBO chapter and a small-business owner, said Rosener was selected as the speaker because she is a role model to women and a good message for all businesses.

"She has a message both women and men are wise to hear and pay attention to," Mahalik said.