Girl Power in the Workplace: A Frozen Ideal?
Ms. Gloria ARLINI (Indonesia)
I recently watched Disney’s “Frozen” at the cinema and, like the rest of the world,
was instantly charmed by the magical winter tale. The movie was a milestone for Disney,
not just in terms of box office numbers but, more importantly, in terms of its bold reversalof the archetypal Disneyesque fairy tale.
Instead of the classic Disney characterization of princesses as passive damsels in
distress waiting for their true love to find them, “Frozen” is all about girls in search oftheir true self and embracing their innate strengths. The main character’s struggle as agirl who was always told to “conceal, don’t feel, put on a show” lest her immense power
be condemned by others parallels the constant mental battle faced by women in
patriarchal societies. This led to her moment of rebellion, expressed in a musical number
belted out from the mountaintop, a moment of the collective triumph for feminists:

Let it go, let it go
Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go
Turn away and slam the door
I don't care what they're going to say
Let the storm rage on
The cold never bothered me anyway
It is worth mentioning that the song has been translated into 25 languages andranked among the top tracks on various international music charts.
Has the patriarchal world finally come to terms with feminism?
A week after the movie, a friend of mine had her annual performance review at work.
She was told that she needs to tone down her forcefulness at work. The preferredleadership model in her company, a local SME (small/medium enterprise), is to couch
firmness behind dulcet tones, sweet smiles and polite demeanors. Sharp tones and firmsounding emails are too high-handed and may come across as rude, especially comingfrom a female manager.
In their book “Compelling People”, Neffinger and Kohut (2013) identify leaders as
being defined by two characteristics: strength and warmth. Essentially, strong peoplecommand respect, while warm people are well-liked. And when every leader is judged by
the both dimensions, women get worse evaluation than men. Asian women, I’d wager,
would probably get the worst.
As with Sheryl Sandberg and Marissa Mayer, there are hordes of womenprofessionals who are still chained by gender stereotypes. They are expected to be
nurturing, caring and diplomatic in the workplace—all positive traits, though fixedly one
dimensional. Those who assert more strength are seen as arrogant, cold, and difficult towork with. Funnily enough, the moral policing role is as much assumed by womenthemselves as it is by men.
Then what happens? To compensate, some career women camouflage theirdispleasure with their colleagues through backhanded ways. They gossip. They always
sound positive but conceal subtle criticisms between the lines, forcing others to decodethese hidden meanings. They disguise instructions as questions because exclamatory
sentences are seen as too strong, and therefore are only reserved for male colleagues.
(Men: “Submit the report today.” Women: “You may want to consider expediting thereport, perhaps by end of the day?”) At worst, they become manipulative.
Is it more effective? No. Is it a preferred trait? Clearly no. A recent survey finding in
Singapore shows that female superiors are much less favored by workers, where 33%
respondents say they would be happier working for a male boss, and only 8% said they
preferred a female superior (Job Central Survey 2013).
So why do women continue to practice such passive-aggressive leadership style?
Getting back to “Frozen”, clearly women are still very much bothered by the “cold” quite
literally, in particular, by the perception that they are cold and unfeeling creatures,
which is a big no-no in the harmonious ideals of Asian societies. Indeed, how many of us
are truly able to “let it go” and say “the cold never bother me anyway”?
I need to insert a caveat here that this observation is not across the board. I haveworked with many female supervisors occupying every shade in between the strengthwarmth continuum. I have admired female colleagues who are able to draw the line
between strength and warmth, thereby creating their own unique brand of leadership.
Sadly, the passive-aggressive lot remains the majority, especially in the Asian context
with a culture so polite it becomes duplicitous at times.
Clearly there is still a lot of work to be done to push towards greater gender equality
in Asian workplaces. We are not just looking at equal job opportunities for men andwomen but, just as importantly, aiming to dispel subtle social sanctions that come withage-old gender stereotypes. Asian women, in particular, need to truly celebrate theirstrengths, not to overly censure themselves to conform to outdated demure femininity.
Until then, I’m afraid that girl power remains in the realm of Disney’s fairy tales.