Status of Women in Leadership

¶ … Status of Women in Leadership Roles

Fifty years ago, women were almost entirely excluded from leadership roles. Today, however, the profile of women leaders has increased profoundly. Women are commonly seen as anchors on television, as principals of high schools, and deans of community colleges, for example.

Despite the success of women in many leadership positions, many argue that women are not fairly represented in higher profile leadership positions. In 2007, Hillary Rodham Clinton noted "Today, women are a majority of the voters, a majority of students in college, and we are a growing presence in the Congress. But there are still far too few women in leadership positions" (Hally Z.)

Today, there are multiple notable examples of women as leaders in industry and politics. Women are often achieving the pinnacle of success, effectively breaking through the glass ceiling. These successful women include Carly Fiorina, Meg Whitman, Andrea Jung, and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Carleton (Carly) Fiorina is one of the modern pioneers of female CEOs. Former President & CEO, Hewlett-Packard Company, Fiorina ran one of the largest companies in the world (Money-Zine.com).

Meg Whitman, President and CEO of eBay Technologies, is likely the richest female CEO in the world. Whitman has been president and CEO of EBay since 1998 (Money-Zine.com).

Andrea Jung is President and CEO of Avon Products, a Fortune 500 company. Avon sells over $4.0 billion dollars of products, worldwide, each year (Money-Zine.com).

Recently, Hillary Rodham Clinton's run for the leadership of the Democratic Party has brought the issue of women in high profile leadership positions to the forefront of discussion. Clinton is likely most famous for her tenure as first lady to President Bill Clinton (Lips, 2007), although she is becoming increasingly well-known without this primary association to her male partner.

Women like Fiorina, Whitman, Jung and Clinton are so notable simply because they are so unusual. This says an enormous amount about the reality of women in high-profile leadership roles in North America today. It would be virtually impossible to single out male leaders in high-profile roles in quite the same way. The United State has never had a female president, and women in high-ranking governmental posts are relatively rare (Janet Reno and Condoleezza Rice being, again, significant exceptions).

Women in leadership roles around the world

Worldwide, women leaders face many challenges. Women leaders in many developing countries are largely non-existent. In other countries, like Pakistan and Bangladesh, women have acted as head of state, even though the status of women in these countries has not improved significantly. In India, women are represented in a significant proportion of public leadership roles. However, in many other countries, e.g., Turkey, Iraq, and Bangladesh, women's leadership roles have decreased due to poor economic conditions and the dangers and fallout of armed and political conflict. Even more developed countries like Canada and Australia face significant challenges for equal representation of female leaders. (United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs). In contrast, countries like Norway have a long-established tradition of women in political power (Lips, 2007). Overall, however, "the majority of women continue to face significant barriers to assuming leadership roles and becoming effective agents of transformation" (United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs).

There are many factors that prevent women from achieving positions of power worldwide. These include, but are not limited to, poverty, lack of education, gender stereotypes, lack of legal rights, sexual harassment, poor health care, family responsibilities, lack of self-confidence, and lack of role models (United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs).

Attitudes underlying the current status of women in leadership roles recent Work & Power Survey, conducted on over 60,000 individuals, found some interesting attitudes toward leadership and gender. The survey, taken by MSNBC and Elle magazine, found that for half of the respondents, gender made no difference in leadership. However, other respondents noted that gender did make a difference in leadership. Interestingly, however, the majority of these respondents thought that men made more effective leaders than women, by at least a 2 to 1 margin (Hally Z.). In the Work & Power Survey, women leaders were described as "moody," "*****y," "gossipy," "emotional," and "catty" by many respondents, both male and female (Hally Z.).

What accounts for these stereotypes of female leaders? Janet Lever, professor of sociology at California State University in Los Angeles, notes: "One cannot live in a sexist society without absorbing some of those messages, which make women feel worse about themselves and suspicious of other women" ((Hally Z.). Lever suggests that sexist ideas, among both women and men, come from "omnipresent cultural messages" (Hally Z.). These messages suggest that women are excellent caregivers, but that men are good leaders. As such, "any woman stepping out of her area of expertise, such as by taking on the job of manager, president, or CEO, is viewed with suspicion" (Hally Z.).

To overcome the perception that women are not good leaders, they must often take on, and even exaggerate, masculine traits like toughness and selfishness. For example, Margaret Thatcher, former British Prime Minister, was often seen as tougher than many of her male counterparts. Since masculine traits are seen as unnatural for women, women who are tough and assertive are often seen as "*****y" or emasculating. Unfortunately, women leaders who choose not to be tough or assertive are seen as weak or ineffective (Hally Z.) as a result, women leaders must combine both compassion and assertiveness, a combination not always required by male leaders (Lips, 2007).

Women in leadership positions are also often the focus of much attention on their sexuality. Hillary Rodham Clinton's leadership campaign has seen a large amount of attention paid to supposedly low cut necklines (Lips, 2007).

Women in leadership roles must often walk a tightrope for acceptable behavior. Notes Lips (2007) women leaders must be careful not to be "too pushy or too soft, too strident or too accommodating, too sexless or too sexual." The result is that "high-profile women leaders in the United States are relentlessly held to a higher standard than their male counterparts" (Lips, 2007).

The future of women in leadership roles

The United Nations notes that the participation of women in decision-making bodies worldwide has been growing slowly in the past several years. Women are assuming more senior-level positions in government, media, international affairs, and the private sector (United Nations).

This increase in women in leadership positions is encouraging, as the United Nations indicates that women's involvement in policy-making decisions improves the outcome for women and children. The United Nations notes, "women inside the government and within civil society organizations have played a critical role in passing laws and developing policies that address women's and children's rights in areas directly related to poverty reduction and violence against women.