Title: The Female Leadership Advantage: An Evaluation of the Evidence
Study: The Female Leadership Advantage: An Evaluation of the Evidence (Alice H. Eagly and Linda L. Carli, The Leadership Quarterly 2003)
Finding: Women have some advantages in leadership style, but they still receive prejudicial evaluations of their competence as leaders, especially in masculine organizational contexts.
InPower Insight: Part of your advantage is to believe the evidence that your leadership style is effective, even if the culture around you doesn’t want to recognize it.
Summary:
This meta-study found that women’s styles of leadership align with sought-after contemporary views of leadership such as strong and collaborative relationships, teamwork, and ability to empower and engage workers. The study shows that female leadership is typically more communal and involves more communication. Leadership styles were found to be particularly gender- stereotypic- women were more interpersonal and democratic whereas men were task-oriented and autocratic.
Three leadership styles were also studied: transactional, transformational, and laissez- faire. Transactional was defined as more conventional and leaders with this style clarified subordinates roles. Transformational leaders focused more on the future of the organization and fostered a sense of commitment among subordinates. Women were more apt to use the transformational leadership style.
The study also found that prejudice and discrimination persists against female leaders and this prohibits the female advantage of leadership from being effective. Women often conform to stereotypic perceptions of their behavior when it is expected of them to act this way. The research concluded that women face a disadvantage in leadership when they are place in male dominated roles where they are expected to exhibit masculine qualities.
Personal Coaching Tip: In a more masculine environment, your collaborative and person-focused approach to leadership may not be respected, but it can still work. Focus on what works and leveraging your own skills and abilities and over time you can help others see that their stereotypes of female leadership are just that – stereotypes. And often stereotypes don’t work in the modern world.
Keywords: Advantage, Leadership Style
