ASSESSMENT 1, Gender and Leadership

Women’s status has improved remarkably in the 21^st century in many countries, but women continue to lack access to power and position in the society compared to men. Although women have made many gains over the years, their status in the organizations is not up to the expectations. Leadership is not based on the gender. People become leaders iteratively.  They bear increasingly demanding roles, learn from mentors, and try out with new behaviors. Then, if their presentation is confirmed, they go over the process.

Women as leaders                                 

Although more women are assume leadership roles today than before, the idea of a woman as a leader is still unfamiliar to many individuals, male and female alike. Changes in opinion are difficult to achieve because the traditional norms of leadership are definitely deep-rooted. In our society, as in most others, leaders have usually been males. In the past, leadership opportunities for women tended to be limited to all female organizations such as sororities, convents, and female institutions of education-but even there the presidents of women’s colleges were almost always men (Bass, 1981)

There are many female leaders that are emerging in the business sector. The female leaders like Sheryl Sandberg (COO, Face book) and Marissa Mayer (CEO, Yahoo) are one of the best leaders in the world. They are also considered to be role models for future leaders. Leaders like these can inspire the future leaders, they provide guidance to them. Fewer female leaders means fewer role models and can suggest to young would-be leaders that being a woman is a liability-thus discouraging them from viewing senior women as credible sources of advice and support.

-          Benefits that we get from a women leader.

 1.           Women are Opportunity Experts

Women witness opportunity in everything and everyone – their neighbors, friends, family, business associates, strategic partners, etc. Women have the ability to see opportunity and give their ideas life and inspire others to do the same. Women, when given the opportunity to be themselves, are natural leaders. Women are more strategic, focused and keep their eye on the prize, they are not distracted easily and don’t get their egos in their way.

2.      Women control majority of woman spending.

Not only do women earn more than India and China combined, but also women globally control at least 64% of the consumer spending (Silverstein & Sayre, 2009b). Having women on boards will give corporations the competitive advantage to create products and services that will better meet their customers’ needs. In some countries, women make over 70% of household spending decisions but have many unmet needs from financial education and advice to providing products they require at key inflection points in their lives: caused by divorce, death of a spouse, marriage, first home purchase, birth of a first child, college commencement, first job etc (Accenture, 2006).

3.           Women seek to be relationship specialists.

Women are specialists at humanizing relationships that are purposeful, genuine and meaningful. They focus on growing healthy, long-lasting relationships. Women don’t quit. They succeed at creating and sustaining energy for both themselves and others. Women are masters at facilitating connection points between people, resources and relationships.  This is why women are such effective and efficient leaders.  They don’t waste time and can quickly identify areas to consolidate, organize and strengthen business outcomes. 

4.      Women improve corporate performance

Women are shown to have positive effects that improve corporate performance. Catalyst (2007) compared Fortune 500 companies on the representation of women on their boards and their corporate performance. They found that when comparing the worst and best quartile of female representation this had significant effects on the corporate performance. Return on Equity increased by 53%, Profit Margin by 42%, and Return on Invested Capital by 66%. They also found that a minimum of three women on the board gave the best results. McKinsey (2007) confirms this relationship. They find that companies with the highest gender diversity teams, as compared to the industry average, see a much higher Return on Equity (10%), a higher operating result (48%), and a stronger stock price growth (70%). In addition, having at least one woman on the board decreases bankruptcy by a full 20% (Wilson & Atlantar, 2009). Interestingly, companies with more women on their boards see better corporate governance and ethical behavior (Franke, 1997).

-          Challenges that women leaders face:

1.      Access to Credit

Women entrepreneurs also find great difficulties in accessing credit. This is partially due to lack of confidence, as well as a gender bias towards women. Fortunately, the West Pac Bank in Australia is unique; it is one of the very few banks that have a unit completely dedicated to women. They offer education, information and networking opportunities. Also, in Uganda, the Development Finance Company of Uganda Bank Limited (DCFU) has a unit dedicated to women entrepreneurs, where they facilitate access to credit.

2.       Double burden

Women are improving their professional opportunities, yet are still responsible for the majority of the chores and care giving duties, also known as the double burden syndrome. This syndrome is particularly experienced in the African and Asian regions, which reflects the responsibility for both work and household. European women are responsible for twice as many household tasks than the men McKinsey (2007).

3.      Confidence:

A major problem relates to women’s confidence, in both the beliefs in their own abilities, as well as in the capability of communicating confidence. As an example, research amongst MBA women shows that while the majority of women consider themselves equally capable as their co-workers, the majority of men consider themselves more capable than their co-workers (Eagly, 2003). In an environment where the behaviors expected are still male dominated, female-specific communication can be interpreted negatively.

4.      Gender bias and stereotypes.

Unfortunately, women do experience a strong gender bias when being evaluated for promotions on both their level of performance as well as their potential impact. Research within professional group’s show that women have to significantly work harder to be perceived as equally competent as men (Lyness & Heilman, 2006).

Thus, the biggest challenges woman face in their development as leaders pertains to work-life balance, lack of role models, lack of opportunities for career advancement and a lack of support from upper management. Many organizations have talented woman in their leadership pipelines, but to successfully advance them into leadership roles, they need a strategy. In addition to plans and programs to develop women, this strategy should outline how to change the organization’s corporate culture to recognize the business value natural to diverse leadership.

References: 

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4 Skills that Give Women a Sustainable Advantage Over Men - Forbes. 2014.4 Skills that Give Women a Sustainable Advantage Over Men - Forbes. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2011/08/22/4-skills-that-give-women-a-sustainable-advantage-over-men/. [Accessed 01 January 2014].

Leadership Challenges for Women at Work - Chief Learning Officer, Solutions for Enterprise Productivity. 2014. Leadership Challenges for Women at Work - Chief Learning Officer, Solutions for Enterprise Productivity. [ONLINE] Available at: http://clomedia.com/articles/view/leadership-challenges-for-women-at-work/4. [Accessed 01 January 2014].

Women Rising: The Unseen Barriers - Harvard Business Review. 2014.Women Rising: The Unseen Barriers - Harvard Business Review. [ONLINE] Available at: http://hbr.org/2013/09/women-rising-the-unseen-barriers/. [Accessed 01 January 2014].