Leader and leadership of the security sector: gender aspect

Topicality of the problem which is under consideration

Whenever we speak about gender in general and female leadership in particular we would like to point out that gender equality is at the very heart of human rights and the United Nations (UN) values. We remember that last century in 1945 the fundamental principle of the United Nations Charter was adopted by the world leaders, particularly equal rights of men and women and the very protecting and promoting women's human rights is the responsibility of all states, including Ukraine.

In this connection we would like to stress that Ukraine has taken the key international commitments on gender equality including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW, 1980) and its Optional Protocol, Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995), and adopted national legislative and policy framework on gender equality, including the State Programme on ensuring Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men (till 2016) and the National Action Plan "Women, Peace and Security" (2016) to implement UN Security Resolution 1325.

Ukraine is in the period of the security sector reforming now and this period is characterized by promoting gender equality as one of the principle fact of successful country development in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

That is why nowadays the very equal active participation of women in decision-making in all the spheres of human activity [3, р.3]; in the security sector institutions, law enforcement agencies [Прик. України, стор. 3] is considered to be the problem of vital importance within the indisputable democratic value.

Scientific sources analysis

The results of the scientific literature analysis testify about the fact that there has been no shortage of the special books and articles aimed at "A man's masculinity is generally enhanced by success; a woman's femininity is often questioned by it" Natasha Josefowitz [10, p.59].

Interpreting various aspects of theoretical grounds of gender and gendered society in general, and the female leadership and leader in particular. The various gender aspects have been investigated by the serious of the scientists such as Natasha Josefowitz (1980) [10], T.R. Halliday and Henry Kellerman (1981) [8], Michael S. Kimmel (2000) [11], Elliot Stephen N, Krtochwill Thomas R., Cook Jan Littlefield, Travers John F. Stephen 2000 [6] and others.

The article aim is to reveal the psychological peculiarities of the way women can succeed in today's security sector organizations in the context of leader and leadership phenomena.

leadership security gender aspects

Investigation results

The problems of female leader and female leadership in the security sector are not the new ones. The gender aspects have been the investigation subjects of such sciences as medicine, biology, anthropology, philosophy, psychology, sociology and others.

In all the times of the existence of human society scientists investigate the various aspects as for the peculiarities of the role of women in society. In this context it is necessary to mention such famous strong female personalities as Indira Gandi (the Indian stateswoman and central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was the first and, to date, the only female Prime minister of India); Margaret Thatcher (the British Conservative Party leader, the first prime minister of Britain); Dalia Grybauskaite (the President of the Republic of Lithuania since 2009); Angela Merkel (the Germany's first female Chancellor since 2005) and others [2, pp. 36-37].

The comprehensive integration of gender equality dimensions into the very security sector reforming processes is critical to meet the standards of representative and rights-respecting needs of women. Nowadays it is essential to change the way the Ukrainian society is thinking about the female leaders in the context of awareness and equality. It is a pity, but we would like to point out this fact, that the majority of the people in Ukraine do not even differentiate the two key terms of gender aspect, namely the term "gender" and "sex". And they are absolutely far from the significance of gender equality and women's empowerment for the security sector reform.

For conceptual clarity, the term "gender" refers to the economic, political and cultural attributes and opportunities associated with being male and female [13, p.1].

It is necessary to emphasize that the terms "leader" and "leadership" have been defined in the different ways. Let us consider them in more details.

Leader is: 1) a person who leads a group; or 2) a person who is the best or in the first place. Leadership is 1) the state or position of being a leader and 2) the ability to be a leader or the qualities a good leader should have [9, p. 872].

If we ask the question "What leadership is?" it is essential to mention that while analyzing the very nature of the leadership context we paid our attention to the fact that commitment, complexity, and credibility are typical of the leadership environment [5, p. 6]. Bennis, Warren G. after having investigating the personal qualities of nine leaders needed to run their organizations, attracts our attention to the fact that they are the following: persistence and selfknowledge, willingness to take risks and accept losses, commitment, consistency and challenge. Bennis's study stressed the fact that the most important is learning which is called by him "the essential fuel for the leader" and it is important not just to learn but how to learn in an organizational context [5, pp. 188-189]. The real leaders are able to concentrate on what matters most to the organization and to use the organization as a learning environment.

Taking into consideration the fact that the organization is considered to be a group let us reveal the peculiarities of the very role of leadership particularly in the system "leadership and group cohesion". A group with a high degree of cohesion will also possess a leader whose presence is continuously and strongly felt [8, p.16].

In fact, leadership is directly related to group performance, specific nature of group cohesiveness affects the development of specific leadership traits among certain members of a group.

We would like to point out that one point that is absolutely critical in the understanding of leadership within the group is that cohesion is solidified as a result of leadership distribution function.

As for the most successful leaders they have done this by developing a set of skills, they are the following:

1. Acknowledging and sharing uncertainty.

2. Embracing error.

3. Responding to the future.

4. Becoming interpersonally competent (i. e. listening, nurturing, coping with value conflicts, etc.).

5. Gaining self-knowledge [5, p. 189].

Considering the leadership and gender differences Natasha Josefowitz points out that in the study involving thirty-six successful professional women, it was found that the majority of leaders seemed overtly humanistic, and directed to the "wholeness" of the human experience. She stresses that this orientation was expressed strongly and intensely [10, p. 203].

It goes without saying the leadership role is one of the most important role associated with positions in the group structure. From the psychological point of view, we have to point out that the problem of defining leadership has been investigated by Carter (1953) who identified five distinctly different views of leadership that have appeared in the scientific literature. Let us consider these views in more details [12, p. 272-273].

The leader may be defined as a person who is in the focus of group behaviours; of course is able to lead the group towards its goals. The leader is the person so named by the members of the group (based upon sociometric choice). Moreover the leader is a person who has demonstrable influence upon group syntality (group system), i.e. the person who causes syntality change (the leader is the person who change the level of group performance. The leader is the person who has the great influence upon the group's performance.

As for the security sector environment we would like to emphasize that in the particular conditions the general social factors join the specific life conditions and professional activity of the particular leader and the concrete group of his or her subordinates in a different way. In order to understand the very mechanism of individualization of the influence of the socio-determined factors upon the individual and on the particular group we have picked up the social determinants of the special conditions. These conditions are typical of the military groups and such groups have not only general psychological features for any group of the security sector organization, but also the specific traits which are stipulated for the peculiarities of the particular tasks and the professional activity nature. And the female leader must take into one's consideration such aspects as the strict regulation of relations and functional dependence of the group members. This dependence is determined by the subordination system within the framework of military discipline maintenance.

Women as a rule are more aware than men of what they give up by being totally focus upon their careers at the exclusion of other interest [10, p.156].

Speaking about the very differences between male and female leaders in the military sphere we have to stress that alongside with male leaders the female leaders take the serious decision in different spheres of the security sector. It goes without saying every up-to-date female leader of the unit must be well-educated, well-organized and of course well-reserved. The most important for the military female leader is to be professionally competent, that is to have well- developed abilities to carry-out duties and be able to take the right decision in the different conditions, including the special and extreme ones by using profound analysis, innovative approaches and peaceful strategies in problem solving.

We would like to attract your attention to the fact that the representative of the American scientific school Natasha Josefowitz in the book "Path to Power. A Woman's Guide from first job to executive" (1980) (Josefowitz Natasha) investigating the peculiarities of the process of making career she recommends the women to have five fundamentals besides the appropriate technical skills in order to be successful in the world of work. Let us consider these fundamental skills in more details:

1. Personal skills (also known as intrapsychic skills (these skills refer to the awareness);

2. Interpersonal skills (these are the skills at work in any two-person relationship). They refer not only to mutual understanding, but also to the interplay between two individuals. Good interpersonal skills would entail being able to deal effectively with all types of personalities in a variety of situations, and understanding the impact we may have on others;

3. Group skills (a person skilled in group dynamics understands what is going on knows how and when to intervene most effectively to enhance the group work);

4. Intergroup skills (whenever there is more than one group in a work place, there are intergroup dynamics that influence people's behavior); this is an important skill for any member of an organization;

5. Organizational skills (women who are ambitious and wish to move up need to understand the structure of the organization in which they work) [10, p. 30].

And one more aspect - the difference between men and women - is to be taken into our consideration, particularly - credibility. As a matter of fact men and women have to earn their credibility in different ways. Natasha Josefowitz substantiated the fact that most people have not seen women in charge, and they must get accustomed to and accept that new image. At the same time, women have a couple of advantages over men that come in handy in the role of our supervisors [10, p. 108].

Having analyzed the real state of the male attitude towards female leaders in the security sector we have come to the conclusion that it is essential to teach people gender. And in this connection we would like to emphasize that nowadays in spite of the fact that we can use a lot of the training manuals on gender and security, attend the various gender-oriented trainings and seminars there is the need to form so-called proper gender ideology.

Taking into consideration the fact that conscious is the highest level of activity relation on the grounds of the particular values it is absolutely important to provide conscious attitude of the whole population towards the gender in general and female leadership and leaders in particular.

For Ukraine it is important to change the way the society is thinking about the female leadership nowadays. In this connection we would like to give the example of creating the special attitude towards female leaders. Such in the Unites States Coast Guard Academy there is a slogan which motivates the women to enter this educational establishment and become leaders: e.g. "We don't see a women - we see a leader!" In the advertisement of that school we find a kind of "strategy" aimed at individual perception while reading it: "In the U. S. Coast Guard, we are looking for leaders. That is why so much invested in each individual - the best training, the latest equipment and technology, as well as constant learning in real life situations". Again we find here the learning as one of the principle requirements for successful career [4, pp. 1, 2]. The proper motivation is in action and it is really works supporting and enhancing the women who have the burning desire to become the real leaders.

Today it is essential to work out the gender-orientated teaching psycho-pedagogical technology based on the choice of optimum teaching method under the conditions of proper socio-psychological provision of security sector leadership and modeling of professionally aimed problemsolving situations on the basis of socio-psychological determinants of group influence.

The usage of such situations gives the opportunity to form some psychological operations and their complexes through the interaction of various kinds of practical activities. It is important to teach female leaders to determine the final goal of the professional carrier (what I want to achieve), realize the own needs and abilities to reach the planned aims.

Conclusion. 1. One of the English proverbs says "Where there is a will there is a way" and whenever any female representative wish to make the effective career and be a real leader it is essential to remember that in such case a woman must differentiate the terms "leader" and "leadership". Leader is the person who is in the focus of group behaviour Leadership is the process or act of influencing.

Obviously for female leader it is of vital importance to be well-educated, well-organized, well-informed, hardworking, absolutely reserved in any difficult situations, including the special and extreme conditions. For this very purpose it is necessary to be ready psychologically to follow healthy way of life and be a kind of example to the subordinates. The results of our investigation testify about the fact that very often female leaders forget about the fact that the principle factor which determines one's health state is not the level of the medical care but the very way of life they keep. Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmit.

As stress (both positive and negative) is considered to be part and parcel of leaders, especially in the security sector, we have to remember that stress is often caused by simple overload. Every female leader must be capable of coping with stress.

It goes without saying we have to remember about the psychological competence. Female leader is to be capable of revealing and developing. As for the effective organization of group activity it is necessary only to remember of ability, motivation, environmental factors, organizational goals proper organization of group activity and personnel interaction in group on the grounds of the manual and regulation. For female leader is of vital importance to remember of the particular norms which are typical of the security sector.

Taking into consideration the fact that the majority of men find women to be more emotional than men, we have to point out that it is essential to comment on the very meaning of the term "emotionality". Men express anger more directly than women, as for crying it is an emotion expression used by women more than men. A real female leader has to regulate her emotional state and learn to display positive emotions instead of crying.

In order to get the respect of the colleagues and subordinate it is essential to be straight, hardworking, show the competence and it is obligatory to be fair.

We find it of vital importance always notice when the duties are carried out up to the level and congratulate people on extra service.

Whenever the service does not meet the requirements or standards criticism must be official, without any slight of anger in order not to humiliate the subordinate. And of course the subordinate must be informed about the way the service is not up to the level and provided the necessary instructions when it is needed.

The leader must create the positive atmosphere at service that is satisfying for most people. It is prohibited for the leader to:

- show preference for one or more subordinates;

- do not criticize one subordinate in front of others, or one unit in front of another unit;

- do not treat the people as subordinates, but as your stuff; always remember about politeness and respect while communicating with them; delegate as much as possible to show your trust; do not talk one subordinate about another;

- be absolutely clear about quality norms and standards and concrete deadlines; it is important for subordinates to know in what way their particular efforts fit into the overall organizational scheme so that they feel part of a whole;

As for the evaluation you have to provide periodic check-in system for measuring progress. For this very purpose you have to use the quality monitoring system taking into account the professional activity peculiarities of your personnel and the specific character of the security sector unit within the psychological view.

The well-organized monitoring system guarantees the opportunity of the systematic revealing, analyzing and forecasting the real state in your organization. On the basis of the monitoring results the practical recommendations on taking proper management decisions on the rise in effectiveness of functionning the particular unit of the organization are worked out. The final objective of this monitoring system is to improve the functioning process in order to form the essential level of the professional competence of the whole personnel.

Taking into consideration the importance of professional tasks on providing national security the issue of patriotic upbringing the whole personnel by the leader is on the agenda. As a matter of fact the harmony-developed personality is the main means of the successful development of the very nation. While developing the leading i.e. main ability of the subordinates to carry out the professional duties every leader is to take into his/her consideration the aspects of harmonic and comprehensive development of the whole unit in general and the particular member of this unit in particular. It is necessary to pay some attention to the creative individual abilities which are the essential parts of the professional competence of the personnel on the basis of socialization.

As we have mentioned above it is essential to create the gender ideology and to teach the personnel gender. Every female leader has to remember about RESPECT. The very respect must be your priority. One can earn respect by providing challenge, by treating the subordinates fairly. It is absolutely important to recognize their efforts and achievements and be clear about your expectations.

Finally we have to point out that up-to-date female leader has the new equal opportunities for the professional development in the security sector nowadays. The only thing she has to do is to be sure making the career.

The size of the article does not give us the opportunity to reveal all the peculiarities of the problem considered. In our opinion the way of its further investigation is the studying of gender differences in group dynamics and working out the psychological provision system of the security sector unit taking into the consideration the gender aspect.

Список використаних джерел

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