Women and Leadership

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Women and Leadership
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Overview

• What is the profile of women leaders?
• How are womens leadership styles viewed?
• What accounts for the progress (or lack thereof)
  for women leaders?
• Strategies for building leadership opportunities
  for women

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Labor Force Participation Rates for Women and Men

• Labor force participation of women has increased
  substantially over the past 30 years
• Labor force participation of men has decreased
  slightly.
• Source Dept. of Labor

4
Percentages of Women in Management Positions in
Early 2000s

• 50 of all full-time management/professional, and
  related occupations are filled by women (BLS,
  2003)
• 37 of all full-time managers are women (BLS,
  2003)
• Women account for about 23 of top executive
  positions (BLS, 2003)
• Women hold about 14 of all corporate board
  seats
• There are 7 women CEOs of Fortune 500 companies

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Some Differences between Men and Women Managers

• About 41 of all MBA degrees are awarded to women
• One in three women with MBA degrees are working
  part-time compared to one in 20 men with MBAs
• Women managers earn only 73 cents on the dollar
  that men managers make
• Greater percentages of women managers have never
  been married, and are separated, divorced, and
  widowed than men managers

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Stereotypical Styles of Womens Leadership
Monsters
Mothers
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Stereotypical Perceptions of Women Leaders
Mothers

• Accessible to all
• Nurturant to others
• Focus on social and emotional needs, rather than
  on task
• Protective of peers and subordinates
• Take care of details organizational wives

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Stereotypical Perceptions of Women Leaders
Monsters

• Micro-management
• Failure to delegate
• Autocratic decision making
• Use of negative influence strategies
• Exploitative
• Queen Bees
• Suspicious of and threatened by others

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What leads to these perceptions?

• Traditional gender role expectations
• Lack of experience working with women
• Working in nontraditional fields
• Self perceptions of confidence
• Gender discrimination

• Lack of real power and resources
• Lack of experience
• Try to use male model
• Overcompensation for female socialization
• Receive little guidance
• Placed in staff positions

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Requirements of the New Leadership

• Collaboration and participation
• Community building
• Shared power and information
• Stewardship service to the organization
• Transformational leadership
• Envisioning, Energizing, and Empowering

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How can women develop effective styles?

• What do studies of successful women leaders
  reveal about developing effective styles?
• What can organizations do to help women develop
  effective leadership styles?

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Recent Study of Men and Women Leaders (2000)

• Women executives were rated higher on 42 of the
  52 skills measured
• In a nutshell, women were better at
• Motivating others
• Fostering communication
• Producing high quality work
• Listening to others
• Equal to men on strategic planning and issue
  analysis

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Wellesley Center for Research on Women (2001)

• Interviewed 60 prominent women from many fields.
  General results indicate
• Over time, obstacles to womens leadership have
  diminished but have not disappeared
• There is no one style of leadership that was
  successful context is important
• Relational practice (democratic, people-oriented
  leadership) fits todays context

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Wellesley Center for Research on Women (2001)
(cont.)

• Women must be tenacious and optimistic to
  overcome obstacles
• Strategy to gain visibility Know and value
  yourself and let others know
• Sometimes early support from others helped, but
  not always critical for success
• Mothering actually provided valuable skills and
  training in leading others

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Why arent there more women leaders at the top of
organizations?

• Work aspirations and expectations
• Human capital differences
• Gender role expectations and stereotyping
• The double burden of work and non-work
  responsibilities
• Organizational cultural assumptions about work
  success
• Women choose not to advance in management opt
  out

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Strategies for Building Leadership Opportunities
for Women

• Assimilation of women to the organization
• Accommodation of the organization to women
• Celebrating differences strategies
• Changing embedded organizational cultural
  assumptions about work
• New flexible career strategies brought about by
  young professional women

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Solutions What Women Can Do

• Adapt to the requirements of the situation
• Demonstrate critical skills for effective job
  performancemust work very hard!
• Display entrepreneurial initiative
• Accurately identify company values and work
  within these
• Take on risks and challenging assignmentsget
  line positions
• Bring whole selves to the job
• Use numbers to bring about change

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Solutions What Organizations Can Do

• Provide better guidance and mentoring from senior
  managers, males and females
• Put women into line positions where the action
  is
• Give women high visibility experiences early in
  career--build confidence and skills
• Develop networks and connections within and
  between organizations
• Break down cultural practices that may reinforce
  gender stereotypes
• More focus on work-life integration
• Innovation on career options