I feel empowered since learning so much more about feminism, women's communication style, and leadership. These three concepts are fluid and flow very well together for me. As explained in the book, feminist research takes on a variety of forms.
Liberal feminists are interested in changing policies to level out the playing field for women. Radical feminists are more interested in dismantling the existing organizations and substituting them with a feminist-inspired structure without hierarchy.
Feminists have since adopted different approaches to explore the identity. Early research did not treat women's communication style as a utility. Women's ways of knowing, being, and leading may even be considered superior. Leadership is at the center of the organization according to this perspective. I would almost want to speculate that corporations are becoming more motherly, nurturing, and softer because they try to integrate family-like activities such as afternoon team-outings to the bowling alley. Leaders must share responsibility, develop and invest in others, and build and maintain a network of relationships. This could be analogous to a mother who divides the house chores to each family member, nurtures the kids, and maintains a loving relationship with those in the household. I feel empowered with these concepts because they demonstrate that a different perspective on something that already exists could mean a world of change (i.e. deficit vs. utility re: comm. style). Therefore, I will definitely aim for the more positive outlook on my communication style in the work and home sphere.
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I equally feel empowered by this section, not because of a feminism movement so much, but more because there seems to be recognition for differences in communication styles between men and women in the organization. I agree that concentrated feminists studies brought some of the details of communication in organizations to light and recognized there were some powerful ways in which women are contributing. I don’t want women’s ways of communicating to become so type cast or “stereotyped” that we are seen as nurturing or emotional all the time. I want women to be thought of as the other contributing balance to the organization, a powerful force that provides the other meaningful half to the organization, not just motherly, but logical, etc..
I also feel it is important for women not to lose their identity in an organization because things are expected to flow in a certain direction by the dominant group. Women need to stay true to who they are, and equally teach men how to learn and adapt to our style of communication as well.
I agree that companies are now becoming more nurturing by doing team building experiences and also respecting the work/life balance. Woman are starting to become more recognized but there is still more progress to be made. Santacruz commented that it is not good for woman to be "stereotyped" as nurturing and emotional all the time because those characteristics can be seen as weak and it is good for woman to be seen as something else besides motherly.
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