Miranda Priestly Case

I would like to discuss how Miranda rules the company. Miranda Priestly as a successful career woman, using power effectively in the workplace. 'Most female characters in the mass media ''hold and use private power as wives, mothers, partners'' (Ferguson, 1990) so, Miranda is unusual to the women portrayed in the media before. She is using a masculine way to rule the company, for example, her powerful voice, aggressive and goal oriented characteristics. However, Miranda seems suffering a backlash while she is having a successful career, she is viewed as devil boss, not having a good relationship with her subordinate, because she is exerting too much power and control, making a comparison with her assistant, Andrea who is more feminine, Miranda is transgressing the 'proper' expectations of femininity.

The notions that say women are supposed to utilize feminine ways in their leadership roles are not always true. Miranda is unusual to the women portrayed in the media before, and she is playing a reverse gender performance as 'not all women lead in a feminine way and not all men lead in a masculine way.' (Lui, 2009) Since there are some expectation for what a women leader should behave, such us person/process-oriented, giving supportive feedback. (Lui, 2009) We can see Miranda is using a masculine way to rule the company, because of her powerful voice, aggressive and goal oriented characteristics because being masculinity can beneficial for women remains an empirical status.