Human Resource Management International Digest

Are women better leaders than men?

Sharon De Mascia
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Sharon De Mascia , (2015),"Are women better leaders than men?", Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol.
23 Iss 7 pp. 1 - 4
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(2015),"Workplace and leadership perceptions between men and women", Gender in Management: An International Journal,
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(1999),"Women leaders and women managers in the global community", Career Development International, Vol. 4 Iss 3 pp.
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 Viewpoint

Are women better leaders than men?

Sharon De Mascia

Sharon De Mascia is esearch into leadership styles suggests that we are moving toward a more
based at Cognoscenti
Business Psychologists
Ltd, Lancashire, UK.
R transformational style that emphasizes emotional intelligence and interpersonal
skills. Some studies have found that women have an advantage over men when it
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comes to the emotional aspects of leadership. Does this mean that women are naturally
good at transformational leadership? If so, why are women still under-represented in
leadership?
It would be easy to give knee-jerk answers to these questions, but let us survey the
evidence and see what it tells us.
The leadership literature has undergone a journey from the more traditional transactional
styles of leadership to a more transformational style of leadership that incorporates
authentic leadership and emotionally intelligent leadership. This style of leadership is
relatively new and emphasizes motivation and engagement along with the creation of a
shared vision. There is also an emphasis on individualized consideration and providing a
role model for high ethical behavior that encourages respect and trust.
There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that this type of leadership is very effective
in modern-day organizations. Eagly (2007) reports a meta-analysis by Judge et al. (2004)
that examined 87 studies testing the relationships between leadership styles and measures
of leaders effectiveness. They found that transformational leadership was associated with
greater effectiveness.
This shift in the focus of leadership suggests that a more transformational style of
leadership is required, which can harness the energy/motivation of teams/stakeholders and
unite them behind a common vision.

Women have more of a team management style

Cartwright and Gales (1995) UK studies found that women have significantly more of a
team management style than men, and the researchers described this style as
characterized by a high regard for people and a high regard for task. They also found that
women were more visionary.
Eagly et al. (2003) carried out a meta-analysis of 45 studies of transformational,
transactional and laissez-faire leadership styles and found that female leaders were more
transformational than male leaders. Although the differences found between male and
female leaders were small, they were significant and, therefore, encouraging for female
leadership.
A study reported by Caliper Organisation (2014) used a personality profile to explore
leadership. It found that women leaders demonstrated a transformational style of
leadership. Caliper found that the women leaders studied were intellectually stimulating,

DOI 10.1108/HRMID-07-2015-0122 VOL. 23 NO. 7 2015, pp. 1-4, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 0967-0734 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL DIGEST PAGE 1
 encouraged employees to take ownership of company goals and provided inspirational
motivation.
There is also research suggesting that there are no gender differences in leadership and
that leadership effectiveness occurs as a result of a combination of personality factors,
experience, contingency factors, organizational culture and so on. This suggests that the
issues of whether male or female are better at leadership may turn out to be something of
a red herring. For example, Evans (2013) commented that: It is far from clear how gender
impacts on our capability and performance at work.
It may just be the case that women have a preference for the more transformational styles
of leadership. The older traditional leadership models valued masculine characteristics
such as competition, confidence, aggression, and self-direction. Womens skills were
stereotypically viewed as more communal in nature, such as kindness and concern for
others. This means that men appeared to match the role of leader better than women, which
probably accounts for their greater success in obtaining high-level posts. Women who tried
to demonstrate the skills required for more traditional leadership were viewed less
favorably.
Interestingly, transformational leadership has some elements that are traditionally viewed
as more female in nature, such as building supportive relationships (individualized
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consideration), meaning that this leadership style may be more appealing to women, as it
is in keeping with stereotypes about female skills and, therefore, allows women to behave
in a more congruent way.
It would seem, then, that there is now a good match between the type of leadership that
women demonstrate well and the leadership requirements of modern-day organizations, so
women should be in demand as leaders. Sadly, the statistics suggest that this is not the
case and that women remain under-represented in leadership.

Obstacles women face regarding leadership

One thing that the research does appear to be clear about is that the experience of women
with regard to leadership is different from that of men. Early research into leadership and
womens advancement talked about a glass ceiling which set a limit on how high a
woman could expect to rise in the corporate world. Eagly (2012) suggests that the concept
of the glass ceiling is too simplistic, as women face challenges at all levels of the
organization and not only at the top. Eagly talks about the pervasive stereotypes that exist
regarding womens abilities and the prejudices that mean women have to be better than
men and work harder if they want to get on.

Attitudes of male managers

The research indicates that women do not feel that they are taken seriously and are not
offered the same high-quality opportunities as men that would allow them to demonstrate
their ability. Women describe themselves as being hampered by stereotypical views of
womens capabilities, particularly with regard to leadership.

It would seem that there is now a good match between the

type of leadership that women demonstrate well and the
leadership requirements of modern-day organizations so
women should be in demand as leaders. Sadly, the statistics
suggest that this is not the case and that women remain
under-represented in leadership.

PAGE 2 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL DIGEST VOL. 23 NO. 7 2015

 Having more women in leadership positions that is, more
positive role models would help to give women more
condence in their ability to be great leaders and would
encourage more women to push themselves forward for
leadership opportunities.

Duong Thuong and Skitmore (2003) describe research from Powell and Butterfield (1994)
showing that, at the top levels, promotion decisions involve subjective appraisals of
candidates fit with incumbent top managers, disadvantaging female candidates in male
dominated organizations. This lack of fair selection in project leadership is also raised by
Eagly (2007).

Lack of suitable role models

Although there is some evidence that this is changing, women experience a lack of female
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role models/mentors. This may be affecting womens expectations and their ability to
advance their careers.

Networking
The research suggests that women find it harder to network in male-dominated
environments and, therefore, may miss out on making the sort of contacts that would enable
them to raise their profile and get on the right radars. It would seem, then, that women have
the capability to be great leaders, but that they are still being held back.

Lack of confidence
I also think that, in some ways, women are their own worst enemy because they lack
confidence in themselves. I have seen men push themselves forward for promotion
opportunities where they lack a number of the requirements. Women, on the other hand, will
hold back because they do not feel that they have all of the requirements for a post.
I believe that having more women in leadership positions that is, more positive role
Keywords: models would help to give women more confidence in their ability to be great leaders and
Gender, would, I hope, encourage more women to push themselves forward for leadership
Leadership, opportunities.
Women, In order to have more women in leadership positions, however, organizations will have to
Organizational performance do better at tackling some of the obstacles to womens progression.

References
Cartwright, S. and Gale, A. (1995), Project management: different gender, different culture? A
discussion on gender and organizational culture part 2, Leadership & Organization Development
Journal, Vol. 16 No. 4, pp. 12-16.

Caliper Organisation (2014), Whitepaper: the qualities that distinguish women leaders, available at:
www.calipercorp.com/portfolio/the-qualities-that-distinguish-women-leaders/

Duong, T.T. and Skitmore, M. (2003), Female project managers workplace problems: a survey,
Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, Vol. 9 No. 2.

Eagly, A. (2007), Female leadership advantage and disadvantage: resolving the contradictions,
Psychology of Women Quarterly, Vol. 31 No. 1, pp. 1-12.

Eagly, A.H. and Carli, L.L. (2003), The female leadership advantage: an evaluation of the evidence,
The Leadership Quarterly, Vol. 14, pp. 807-834.

VOL. 23 NO. 7 2015 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL DIGEST PAGE 3

 Eagly, A.H. (2012), Women, stereotypes and the glass ceiling effect, available at: www.eruptingmind.
com/women-stereotypes-the-glass-ceiling-effect/

Evans, M. (2013), Women in leadership: a different story, The Psychologist, Vol. 26, pp. 874-877.

Judge, T.A. and Piccola, R.F. (2004), Transformational and transactional leadership: a meta-analytic
test of their relative validity, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 89 No. 5, pp. 755-768.

Powell, G.N. and Butterfield, D.A (1994), Investigating the glass ceiling phenomenon: an empirical
study of actual promotions to top management, The Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 37 No. 1,
pp. 68-86.

Note
Sharon De Mascia is Occupational Psychologist, chartered by the British Psychological
Society, and the director of Cognoscenti Business Psychologists Ltd. She is the author of
Project Psychology: Using Psychological Models and Techniques to Create a Successful
Project, published by Gower. Tel: (44) 0161 344 5492/44 (0)7771 870 547. Web:
www.cognoscenti.uk.com; www.cognoscenti.es Sharon De Mascia can be contacted at:
sharon@cognoscenti.uk.com
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