Women are shaping the future of leadership and transforming the workplace. Compared to low representation in the 1970s, women now outnumber men in the workforce and hold 41% of managerial roles.
“We’ve seen improvements,” says Caitlin Sockbeson, Assistant Professor of Management at the Davis College of Business at Jacksonville University. But when Sockbeson examines trends in upper levels of management, “it’s not looking quite as rosy.” Women remain vastly underrepresented at the highest corporate levels, to say nothing of the disparities in other industries, like the trades. And the percentage of women of color in executive leadership roles is even lower than that of white women.
This isn’t bad news solely for women. It’s bad for all of us. Recent research has indicated that women may hold certain advantages over men in terms of leadership styles, reminding us that we have a lot to learn from many women in power. Still, the work of addressing gender imbalances and creating healthier, more fair, and engaged workplaces goes beyond putting more women in leadership roles. Experts say we also need to explore our ingrained ideas about what (or who) makes a leader, so we can all (regardless of gender) cultivate the leadership qualities proven to contribute to healthier and more equitable work environments.
Gender and Leadership
There are theoretical arguments as to why women are still underrepresented at the top. Earlier research showed that gender stereotypes disadvantage women, fueling uncertainty about women’s abilities to lead effectively.
“Some of those strong stereotypes—what we call the ‘Think Manager, Think Male’ stereotype— do still persist to a certain degree,” says Sockbeson. Yet, “we have seen that weakening over time, as more women move into management roles, and people become used to seeing women in leadership.”
Another factor at play might be something called “shifting standards.” Sockbeson explains this using an example: When two leaders (one man, one woman) are being rated for their effectiveness, people tend to rate them against the “standard” for each gender. So, women are rated against female standards, and men are rated against male standards. “But if I had to choose, I might actually choose the man for promotion,” says Sockbeson. This is because people are not making a comparison to an objective or overall standard, and the standards for men and women are different.
Women leaders tend to take more action to advance the well-being of their employees, and spend more time on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
One large meta-analysis found that when all workplace contexts are taken together, men and women do not differ in perceived leadership effectiveness. Yet when ratings from other people (employees or colleagues) are examined, women are seen as significantly more effective than men. In contrast, when self-ratings are explored, men tend to rate themselves more positively than women rate themselves.
This may be in part because women are often socialized to prioritize communication and collaboration with others, and this way of relating extends to their treatment of colleagues. Similarly, research has shown that women leaders tend to take more action to advance the well-being of their employees, and spend more time on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Scientific studies have found that individuals who engage in “communal” behaviors build a more respectful workplace, where engagement and collaboration are just as important as the bottom line. “The pandemic has brought this to the forefront—that leaders need to be more empathetic and people centered,” says Rosabeth Moss Kanter, the Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.
The Cost of Calling Women “Better” Leaders
Popular media and survey data has emphasized this gender advantage to show that employees are more engaged in their job and perform better when they are led by a woman. However, says Kanter, “These gender differences are small and they’re at the margin, so they do not refer to every woman and every man.”
There’s also a paradox when it comes to praising women for possessing certain leadership qualities that men supposedly don’t: Kanter says that when leadership attributes are seen as more “feminine” (compared with task focused and goal-oriented leadership styles that are supposedly “masculine”), this can reinforce existing stereotypes—or even contribute to new ones. Instead, all leaders should be encouraged and given the tools to cultivate skills such as emotional intelligence, collaboration, and inclusivity, regardless of gender.
The literature also recognizes an important caveat to all these findings: The critical work women d