GENDER AND LEADERSHIP STYLE

Does Gender Effect Leadership Style in a Professional Setting?

Sarah Serzen
University of Utah

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Introduction

As a woman who will soon be graduating college and entering the competitive
workplace, the gender wage gap is something that is on my mind often. The United States
claims to be constantly striving towards gender equality, yet women still make on average 79
cents for every dollar that men make (Hill 2015). Improvements to this number are happening
at an incredibly slow rate (Hill 2015). Gender was something discussed in Communication
Matters many times throughout the semester. The differences in how men and women
communicate is something that shows its face in real life on a daily basis. I will attempt to
answer if leadership style is heavily influenced by gender. To investigate the major professional
differences in men and women will be to investigate where the wage gap might come from. My
hypothesis is that there will be few differences in how powerful men lead and how powerful
women lead.

GENDER AND LEADERSHIP STYLE

Research and Methods

Beginning with the question, does gender effect leadership style in a professional
setting, research was conducted via Google scholar and the Marriot Library search engine.
These particular search engines were used in an attempt to weed out articles and other works
that may lack credibility. Sources that were not from repeatable communication, psychology, or
business journals were rejected, as were sources that had not been peer reviewed. The only time
these weaker sources were used was if it was to verify a simple, brief fact that may be
considered common knowledge. Papers older than 30 years were also avoided, as gender is a
topic that has changed significantly in the past few years.
Gender is defined as the state of being male or female (typically used with reference
to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones), for the purposes of this research
(Google). Professional setting is defined for the purpose of this research as a work place or
educational institution where professionalism is valued highly.
The three main leadership styles that will ideally be examined in relation to gender are
authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire (class content). Authoritarian leaders are not a part
of the group as much as some other leaders are and tend to be domineering in their leadership
style (enotes). Democratic leaders are involved in the work of the group directly and have a
willingness to listen to others (enotes). Laissez-Faire leaders are very hands off and trust in
their group members to participate in effective decision making (enotes). This paper will
examine the gender differences, or lack their of, in the commonality of these leadership styles.

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Analysis

Extensive research spanning several fields has led researchers to believe that differences
between genders do exist (Eagley & Johnson 1990). Men and women have psychological
differences that then translate into differences in communication style. However these
differences do not always manifest themselves in the workplace. Men and women tend to be
more similar in managerial roles than one might think. This is because managerial roles
typically have clear and straightforward guidelines, leaving less to interpretation than other less
stringent leadership roles might (Eagley & Johnson 1990). A manager in a workplace is taught
how to manage that particular workplace when they get the job. So although they have some
control over the kind of leader they are, guidelines are already in place for them.
The only primary research available in the exploration of this subject is from personal
experiences. I have worked in my current job for a little over a year and a half. There are three
managers at a time and in that time there have been roughly seven managers at my workplace.
In my experiences, the men have tended to lean more towards laissez-faire leadership and
democratic leaders. While the women I have worked under have definitely been more on the
side of authoritarian leaders. I have sometimes gotten the impression through my dealings with
various managers that the women feel as though they have something to prove more than the
men do. However, I would like to believe that this would change in higher up positions. For
instance, in my academic career I have seen very little consistent differences in how women
teach and how men teach. I have had male and female authoritarian teachers and male and
female democratic teachers. In my experience gender can at times effect leadership style, but
not always.

GENDER AND LEADERSHIP STYLE

Research has showed that less emphasis on subordinate satisfaction with leadership
style should fall on gender, and more should fall on the leadership style itself. In a 2010 study,
it was found that leadership satisfaction had to do with the style of the leader and there was no
correlation between leadership gender and subordinate satisfaction (Peachey & Burton 2010).
When working with a group, men are much more likely to be willing to make major
group decisions (Ertac & Gurdal 2011). Men are also more likely to put major risk on the
group. This shows that men are willing to be more aggressive leaders, whether this is a positive
or negative thing is a matter of opinion and depends on the situation they are leading in.
As a woman I have no problem stepping up and being a leader in small groups, but
would rather be a follower in larger groups. I will also decline to be a leader in situations where
I am not certain that I know how best to achieve the group objective. If there is a high risk in
the decision that I am making I will be sure that I have the support of almost the entire group.
When working in the group project on the presentation, I usually became the leader. However
in other classes where I felt less confident in my knowledge I have and will gladly be a
follower.

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Conclusion

The main area that this research is lacking is in the primary research department.
Although the sources used are strong, no first hand research was done, so room for error
develops. Another issue is that the research that is available is not the most conclusive. Some
research leans towards medium to large differences in gender leadership styles, while other
research indicates that very small differences are the only ones that exist. However overall I
feel that the hypothesis of no difference between male and female leadership styles is
inaccurate. All papers and articles indicated that some differences were found in leadership
style between men and women. Overall this research correlates with some of my life
experiences and not others.

GENDER AND LEADERSHIP STYLE

References
Authoritarian, Democratic & Laissez-Faire Leadership Research Paper Starter - eNotes.com.
(n.d.). Retrieved December 15, 2015.
Eagley, A., & Johnson, B. (1990). Gender and Leadership Style: A MetaAnalysis. Psychological Bulletin, 108(2), 233-256. Retrieved 2015.
Ertac, S., & Gurdal, M. (2012). Deciding to Decide: Gender, Leadership and Risk-Taking in
Groups. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 83(1), 24-30. Retrieved 2015.
Peachey, J., & Burton, L. (2010). Male or Female Athletic Director? Exploring Perceptions of
Leader Effectiveness and a (Potential) Female Leadership Advantage with Intercollegiate
Athletic Directors. Sex Roles, 64, 416-425. Retrieved 2015.
Gender defintion - Google Search. (n.d.). Retrieved December 15, 2015, from
Hill, (Fall 2015). The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap (n.d.). Retrieved December 15,
2015, from http://www.aauw.org/research/the-simple-truth-about-the-gender-pay-gap/