Woman and Leadership

1. Introduction
1.1.Definition of Leadership
Leadership is an ambiguous term that can be defined in numerous ways depending on the theoretical perspective one uses to view the phenomenon and on cultural beliefs, organizational culture, and personal beliefs. The New Oxford Dictionary of English defines leadership as: the action of leading a group of people or an organization'; the state or position of being a leader (NODE, 2001). Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines leadership as the office or position of a leader, the capacity to lead, and the act or instance of leading' (Merriam-Webster, 2007). According to Dwight D Eisenhower (1988) "Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it." Bass (1990, p. 19) defines leadership as an interaction between two or more members of a group that often involves a structuring or restructuring of the situation and the perceptions and expectations of members'. Gardner (1990, p. 1) defines leadership as the process of persuasion or example by which an individual (or leadership team) induces a group to pursue objectives held by the leader and his or her followers'. Kouzes and Posner (1995) identify leadership as a learnable set of practices. Many others have defined leadership in terms of behaviors, traits, competencies, activities and results of leaders. Bennis (1994, p. 1) notes that "To an extent, leadership is like beauty; it's hard to define, but you know it when you see it".

1.2.Leadership Approaches
1.2.1.Trait Approach The trait approach was one of the first systematic attempts to study leadership in the early 20th century up to late 1940s. The trait approach advocated that leadership ability is innate and linked to personal qualities. Despite its weaknesses the trait approach provides valuable information about leaders and leadership. It can be used at individual as well as at organizational level. For example, through various tests and questionnaires, individuals can analyze their own traits and understand their strengths and weaknesses and how others see them in organization. Thus, it can be used by managers to assess where they stand within their organization and what is needed to strengthen their position. The trait approach also gives us some benchmarks for what we need to look for if we want to be leaders (Northouse, 2007). In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the trait approach. several researchers have tried to explain how traits influence leadership. Northouse (2007, p. 16) notes that the trait approach began with an emphasis on identifying the qualities

of great person; next, it shifted to include the impact of situations on leadership, and most currently, it has shifted back to reemphasize the critical role of traits in effective leadership. 1.2.2.Style Approach The style approach focuses on what leaders do and how they act rather than who leaders are. It identified two main types of behaviors of effective leadership: taskoriented behaviors and relationship-oriented behaviors. The focus of the style approach is how leaders combine these two types of behaviors. The style approach has several strengths and weaknesses. However, it provides a valuable framework for assessing leadership in a broad way. 1.2.3.Skill Approach The Leadership skills approach takes into account the knowledge and abilities that the leader has. A leader can learn certain skills and turn himself into a remarkable one. Researchers have studied leadership skills and abilities for a number of years. However, there are two influential models. The first one is a model proposed by Robert Katz in 1955. The second approach is proposed by Michael Mumford and colleagues in the year 2000. These models can be seen as complimentary to each other, since they offer different views on leadership from the skills point of view. This is a first approach to conceptualize and create a structure of the process of leadership around skills. The model describes leadership in terms of skills and therefore makes leadership available to everyone. This model provides an expansive view of leadership that incorporates wide variety of components (i.e., problem-solving skills, social judgment skills) and a structure consistent with leadership education programs. 1.2.4.Situational Approach The situational approach to leadership is based on the assumption that each instance of leadership is different. Situational leadership classifies leadership into four styles: S1 - high directive-low supportive, S2 - high directive-high supportive, S3 - low directivehigh supportive and S4 - low directive-low supportive. The situational leadership (SLII) model describes how each of the four leadership styles applies to subordinates who work at different levels of development: D1 - low in competence and high in commitment, D2 - moderately competent and low in commitment, D3 - moderately competent but lacking commitment and D4 - great deal of competence and a high degree of commitment. To achieve the effective leadership the leader should diagnose the development level of subordinates in a task situation and exhibit the prescribed leadership style that matches that situation 1.2.5.Contingency Theory

Contingency theories suggest that there is no one best way of leading and that a leadership style that is effective in one situation may not be successful in others. Proposed by the Austrian psychologist Fred Edward Fiedler, the contingency model emphasizes the importance of both the characteristics of the leader and the favorableness of the situation in which that leader operates. Fiedler relates the effectiveness of the leader to aspects of the group situation. Although these approaches have contributed to the understanding of leadership, none of the approaches have provided a completely satisfactory explanation of leadership and leadership effectiveness.

1.3.Leadership Traits
Intelligence Past studies have demonstrated that intelligence had the strongest correlation with leadership among traits investigated. There are different approaches and definitions of intelligence. However, intelligence can be described as the ability to: learn about, learn from, understand, and interact with one's environment. Zaccarro, Kemp, and Bader (2004) found support for the finding that leaders tend to have higher intelligence than non-leaders. Having strong verbal ability, perceptual ability, and reasoning capabilities appear to make one a better leader. Although it is good to be bright, the research also indicates that a leader's intellectual ability should not differ too much from that of his or her subordinates. Leaders with higher abilities may have difficulty communicating with followers because they are preoccupied or because their ideas are too advanced for their followers to accept (Northouse, 2007, p. 19). Self-confidence Self-confidence can be described as an ability to be certain about one's competencies and skills. It includes a sense of self-esteem and self-assurance and the belief that one can make a difference (Chance & Chance, 2002, p. 86). Self-confidence is necessary for leaders to take risks and accomplish high goals. Leaders who are self-confident tend to deal immediately and directly with problems and conflicts, rather than procasting, ignoring, or passing problems to others (Chance and Chance 2002, p.86). Leadership involves influencing others and self-confidence allows the leader to feel assured that his or her attempts to influence are appropriate and right. Self confidence requires a positive self-image. Self-image is a kind of mental picture we all have about ourselves. One way to think about self-image is in terms of what is 'real' and

what is 'ideal'. Many people have goals to move their 'real' self as close to their 'ideal' self as they can. For example, the 'real' you stumbles over your words when you meet the boss, whereas the 'ideal' you is cool, confident and articulate. Problems can occur when people strive too hard to fit with their ideal view of self-image and this can mean they underplay their actual characteristics (About.com). A person's self-image may be far from accurate. For example, your father may have set very high standards for you to become a professional sportsman. For whatever reason you didn't achieve the standard and this leads you to believe you are bad at sports, despite the fact you are actually pretty good. One poor experience can even spread to other areas of your life so you start to believe you are poor at most things (About.com). Self-image is the mental picture you have of yourself. It is not fixed, it is not objective, it can be changed and you can change it.Positive thinking is important but the way you behave is important too. Your self-image will feed off the way you behave and will affect others too. Actors know that if they have to play a sad role they quickly start to feel sad themselves. Similarly, if you speak in a measured slow tone your authority increases to those around you and you actually start to feel it in yourself (About.com). Determination Determination is another of the important leadership traits. Determination is the desire to get the job done and includes characteristics such as initiative, persistence, dominance, and drive. People with determination are willing to assert themselves, they are proactive, and they have the capacity to persevere in the face of obstacles (Northouse, 2007, p.20). Integrity Integrity is a trait very important for leaders.Integrity is one of the most important and oftcited of virtue terms. It is also perhaps the most puzzling. For example, while it is sometimes used virtually synonymously with moral,' we also at times distinguish acting morally from acting with integrity. Persons of integrity may in fact act immorally-though they would usually not know they are acting immorally. Thus one may acknowledge a person to have integrity even though that person may hold importantly mistaken moral views (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Integrity is also attributed to various parts or aspects of a person's life. We speak of attributes such as professional, intellectual and artistic integrity. However, the most philosophically important sense of the term integrity' relates to general character. Philosophers have been particularly concerned to understand what it is for a person to exhibit integrity throughout life. Acting with integrity on some particularly important occasion will, philosophically speaking, always be explained in terms of broader features of a person's character and life. What is it to be a person of integrity? Ordinary discourse about integrity involves two fundamental intuitions: 1. that integrity is primarily a formal relation one has to oneself, or between parts or aspects of one's self; and 2. that integrity is connected in an important way to acting morally, in other words, there are some substantive or normative constraints on what it is to act with integrity (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ).

Northhouse (2007, p.20) notes that integrity is the quality of honesty and trustworthiness. People who adhere to a strong set of principles and take responsibility for their actions are exhibiting integrity. Leaders with integrity inspire confidence in others because they can be trusted to do what they say they are going to do. They are loyal, dependable, and not deceptive. Integrity makes a leader believable and worthy of our trust.

2. Woman and Leadership

2.1.Basic Differences Between Man and Woman
Factors Women
- Expressively showing emotions - Relate with communications - Pass the time with maintain - Focus on process - Multitasking

Men
More difficult to express emotions Relate with actions Pass the time with work Focus on final process

Emotion and Social

Way of Thinking

- Focus on a point - Concentrate with present time - Pay attention on the core issues and final result - Rely on facts and analysis -

Systematic, analytical and continuous Focus on one area Concentrate on present, past and future time Pay attention on the details Rely on intuition Literally, informative, developing facts Communicate with himself when facing a problem (there are intropection factor and introvers factor) Goal and achievement Tend to like awards and achievements Feeling fullness when working on something Establish identity and self-esteem through what is done Physically stronger Passion appears at any moment

Communication

- Emotif, implicite, building relations - When faced a problem, tend to speak and relief after be heared (there is an ekstrovers factor and need support) - Relationship oriented - Tend to like emotion ties and relational ties - Feeling fullness when bound with family (husband and children) - Identity lies in child and family achievement - High on stamina - There are hormonal influences

Orientation

Physical Nature Role in Family

- Commensurate helper - Respect to husband - Focus on internal matters and give suggestions on family external matters - Queen of family

Head of family Loving wife Focus on external matters and give suggestions on family internal matters Spiritual leader of family

2.2.Women and Men Leadership Styles

Since men and women have different leadership styles, the variances do not mean that one has dominance over the other. The difference may be due in part to men seeing leadership as leading and women seeing leadership as facilitating (Schaef, 1985). Although male and female administrators perform many of the same tasks in carrying out their work, different aspects of the job are emphasized (Chliwniak, 1997). Women embrace relationships, sharing, and process, but men focus on completing tasks, achieving goals, hoarding of information, and winning (Chliwniak, 1997). Women educational administrators focus on instructional leadership in supervisory practices and are concerned with students individual differences, knowledge of curriculum teaching methods, and the objectives of teaching (Conner, 1992). In the area of instructional leadership, women spend more years as principals and teachers, and have more degrees than men; they emphasize the importance of curriculum and instruction in their work (Tallerico & Burstyn, 1996). Women leaders focus on instructional leadership, men more often emphasize organizational matters (Conner, 1992). Leadership Styles Women Emphasize relationships, sharing, and process

Men Focus on completing tasks, achieving goals, hoarding of information, and winning Emphasize organizational matters Lead from the front and stresses task accomplishment

Focus on instructional leadership Facilitative leadership

Interact more with teachers, students, parents, colleagues, community, etc. more than men Support contributive, consensual decision Lean toward majority rule and leads by making rewarding and punishing adequate and inadequate work Emphasize the process Emphasize the product, the goal Encourage feelings of self worth, active Utilize the traditional top-down administrative participation, and sharing of power and style information, which helps to transform peoples self interest into organizational goals Influence teachers to use more desirable teaching methods Emphasize the importance of curriculum and instruction more than men

2.3.Woman Leadership Behaviors

Aburdene and Naisbitt (1992) described in their book, Megatrends for Women, 25 behaviors that characterize womens leadership. The behaviors clustered in six central patterns were identified as behaviors that empower, restructure, teach, provide role models, encourage openness, and stimulate questioning. Gillet-Karam (1994), on the other hand, used four behaviors: (a) a vision behaviorin this category, women leaders would take appropriate risks to bring about change; (b) a people behaviorwomen leaders provide care and respect for individual differences; (c) influence behaviorwomen are acting collaboratively; values behavior in which women leaders spend time building trust and openness (Getskow, 1996). No matter how the leadership behaviors of women are delineated, the fact is that women do possess the capabilities and skills to be excellent educational administrators. Gross and Trask (1976) listed capabilities of women in leadership. Women principals have a greater knowledge of and concern for instructional supervision. Superiors and teachers preferred women over men. Students academic performance and teachers professional performance rated higher under women principals. Women were more effective administrators. Supervisors and teachers preferred the decision-making and problem-solving behaviors of women. Women principals were more concerned with helping deviant pupils. Women principals placed more importance on technical skills and organization responsibility of teachers as a criterion for evaluation.

2.4.Qualities of Womens Leader

Women leaders are more persuasive than their male counterparts. The women leaders scored significantly higher than male leaders in ego-drive (persuasive motivation), assertiveness, willingness to risk, empathy, urgency, flexibility and sociability. The strong people skills possessed by women leaders enable them to read situations accurately and take in information from all sides. This willingness to see all sides of a situation enhances their persuasive ability. They can zero in on someone's objections or concerns, weigh them appropriately, address them effectively and incorporate them into the grander scheme of things when appropriate. These women leaders are able to bring others around to their point of view or alter their own point of viewdepending upon the circumstances and information they uncover. They can do this because they genuinely understand and care about where others are coming from. This allows them to come at a subject from their audience's perspective, so that the people they are leading feel more understood, supported and valued.

 Feeling the sting of rejection, women leaders learn from adversity and carry on with an "I'll show you" attitude. The women leaders were in the mid-range on ego-strength (resilience), which was lower, though not significantly, than male leaders. But they possess stronger interpersonal skills (empathy, flexibility and sociability) and are more assertive than their male counterparts. This combination of traits enables the women in our study to express a unique approach toward dealing with disappointment, rejection or situations that don't work out their way. Dr. Greenberg explains, "They will feel the sting of being set back. They may even dwell on it, and tend to be a little self-critical. But then they will muster their assertiveness, shake off any negative feelings, learn what they need to carry on and a voice in the back of their heads will say, 'I'll show you.'" Libby Sartain, Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Yahoo! Inc., says, "If I make a mistake, I may be hard on myself initially, but then I quickly shake it off and figure out how to get beyond the situation. I don't let it undermine my confidence. In fact, sometimes when my back is against the wall, the best in me comes out." Women leaders have an inclusive, team-building leadership style of problem solving and decision making. "Women do have a more inclusive way of leading," affirms U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, who took part in the study."We try to bring more people along with us." While the male leaders demonstrate fine levels of empathy, flexibility, sociability, and urgency (a need to get things done immediately), the women leaders scored significantly higher in these areas. Leaders of both genders shared well above average levels of abstract reasoning and idea orientation. Interestingly, the women leaders were lower than their male counterparts in thoroughness. The women leaders we studied were more interested in hearing all points of view, then making the best possible decision. The final decision did not necessarily have to be their initial point of view. They were able to read situations accurately and take in information from all sides, then make the most informed decision possible. The difference in leadership styles between men and women starts with listening. Not just listening to form your answer, but really listening, learning, reflecting, then implementing a plan that incorporates the best of everyone's ideas. This inclusive style of leadership is based on open lines of communication, according to Susan Rice, Chief Executive of Lloyds TSB Scotland. She says, "To learn you have to keep asking. It's all about asking questions. The people I work with will say that the process of my asking them questions helps them clarify their own thinking and they actually come out a little sharper. That takes a lot of trust. My job, as I see it, is to set a clear strategy, ask the right questions, and encourage our managers to be the experts in their business."

Because women leaders are more willing to share information, they will also talk decisions through with many more people than their male counterparts. Women leaders are more likely to ignore rules and take risks. According to Connie Jackson, Chief Executive of St. Bartholomew's & the Royal London Charitable Foundation, "As a leader, there are times you need to risk going in a direction that no one else has ever taken before. You just have to step out there and follow the path you think is right." Women leaders scored significantly lower than male leaders in external structure (adhering to established procedures) and cautiousness. They were also significantly higher in their levels of urgency and risk taking. And they have very high scores in abstract reasoning. The women leaders are more likely to push back when they are overly bound by regulations and rules, engage in more risk taking and come up with innovative solutions. They tend to have a greater need to get things done than male leaders and are less likely to hesitate or focus on the small details.

2.5.Barriers for Woman in Leadership

THE BOYS CLUB AND TRADITION Women in our study said that it is hard to be accepted into the Boys Club. Certain industries, locations and cultures are traditionally male dominated, such as publishing, investing, radio, training, southern cultures, and Korean culture. Women spoke about being left out of conversations and not included in the office joke circle. In some cases, men seemed unaware of their harassing and unwelcoming behaviour. I was a skirt among pants, said one study respondent. SEXISM AND DISCRIMINATION Many female leaders have personally experienced gender discrimination during their careers. They believe they have been paid less than their male counterparts and did not have equal access to senior-level positions. Women said: There is a reluctance to promote women at the top I have not worked in an organization where woman at higher levels have been promoted and supported. In many ways the men still expect women to bring them their coffee and schedule their meetings. WORK AND FAMILY CONFLICT Female leaders struggled to balance family with career. Caring for children, parents, or extended family impacts their ability to succeed and move ahead in their careers. Some leaders left the workforce for a number of years and faced major obstacles upon their return. Two leaders indicated that having a stay-at-home spouse was necessary for them to succeed in their careers. We learned that not all women are motivated by salary or career advancement, and make choices that lead to more

balance and fulfillment in their lives. Helgesen and Johnson point out that companies tend to motivate by asking employees to make daily sacrifices to get ahead or be promoted, but women measure job satisfaction in terms of the texture of their everyday experience rather than a stepping stone to a future job.6 LIMITED ACCESS TO FEMALE MENTORS The majority of women in our study had a mentor and felt that the mentor had a moderate to great impact on them. However, many leaders reported difficulty in achieving high-quality relationships with female mentors and colleagues. This made it more difficult for them to succeed. In some cases, there were simply not any high-level female colleagues. In other instances, females were not interested in mentoring them or actively shut them out. ENTRY TO INNER CIRCLE Female leaders have difficulty gaining equal access to the top strategic players in organizations. They feel that as women, it is much more difficult to get a seat at the table. Respondents made comments such as: You are not part of the inner circle they golf together. Youre just not in the house. There are still boys clubs to a certain extent and the men are not apt to give women leadership positions. The number of women having a mentor and feeling that there was a positive impact is in contrast to the following graph showing the extent that women believe their organization really supports the development of women. AUTHENTICITY Female leaders indicated that women need to be authentic to succeed. They feel women can and should express their individuality at work, making comments such as: Women who adopt personas are unsuccessful in the long run. I figured out pretty early on I would make a crappy cowboy, so I had to be myself and let the chips fall as they may. If you try to be someone else youre not believable and thats not sustainable. Being something youre not is a battle you cannot win. Its unhealthy to be monitoring and controlling your personality. Easier said than done. Kelly Patterson-McGrath (President and CEO, PattersonMcGrath & Associates) says A lot of the successful woman that I connected with keep coming back to me with one thing as a leader, especially a woman, you have to first and foremost be self-confident this tends to come easier for men.

2.6.Solution for Barriers for Woman in Leadership

One answer to the barriers and obstacles women administrators deal with on a daily basis is mentoring. In order for women to succeed in acquiring administrative positions in education, mentoring must occur. o o Mentoring can significantly enhance income and promoting possibilities for individuals experiencing these relationships. Mentoring can meet the needs of both women and institutions, and it can also assist in attracting and retaining women and minority professionals in the academic work environment. Mentoring of younger workers reduces turnover, helps mentees deal with organizational issues, and accelerates their assimilation into the culture. The mentees (those women being mentored) benefit because someone cares enough to support them, advise them and help interpret inside information.

o o

The advantages of mentoring are felt not only by the mentees and their organization, but by the mentors themselves. They experience the fulfillment of passing along hardearned wisdom, influencing the next generation of upper management, and receiving appreciation from a younger worker (Cullen & Luna, 1993; Hagevik, 1998; Whitaker & Lane, 1990). It is not uncommon for women to have male mentors, but the best mentors for women are other women, because women interacting and sharing experiences and knowledge are significant. Though male mentors readily encouraged women to become principals, they did not eagerly support them when seeking a position at the secondary level. The mentoring experience must help women develop self-esteem, aggressive managerial personalities, and non-traditional attitudes about women and employment. The nurturing of attitudes and characteristics would allow for success in the organization, whereas the male counterpart exhibited personalities that made it easier to advance. The use of mentors to assist present and future leaders is a powerful tool that may be used to bring about more effective school practice (Cullen & Luna, 1993; Daresh & Playko, 1990; Whitaker & Lane, 1990).

2.7.Women Leader
MOTHER TERESA (AUGUST 26, 1910 - SEPTEMBER 5, 1997) born Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, was an Albanian Roman Catholic nun with Indian citizenship who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata (Calcutta), India in 1950. For over 45 years she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity's expansion, first throughout India and then in other countries. By the 1970s she was internationally famed as a humanitarian and advocate for the poor and helpless, due in part to a documentary, and book, Something Beautiful for God by Malcolm Muggeridge. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1980 for her humanitarian work.

Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity continued to expand, and at the time of her death it was operating 610 missions in 123 countries, including hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, children's and family counselling programs, orphanages, and schools. She has been praised by many individuals, governments and organizations; however, she has also faced a diverse range of criticism. In 1996 Mother Teresa was proclaimed directly by Act of Congress an Honorary Citizen of the United States. Following her death she was beatified by Pope John Paul II and given the title "Blessed Teresa of Calcutta". MARIE SKODOWSKA CURIE (NOVEMBER 7, 1867 - JULY 4, 1934) was a physicist and chemist of Polish upbringing and, subsequently, French citizenship. She was a pioneer in the field of radioactivity, the first person honored with two Nobel Prizes, and the first female professor at the University of Paris. She was born Maria Skodowska in Warsaw and lived there until she was 24. In 1891 she followed her elder sister Bronisawa to study in Paris, where she obtained her higher degrees and conducted her subsequent scientific work. She founded the Curie Institutes in Paris and Warsaw. Her husband Pierre Curie was a Nobel co-laureate of hers, and her daughter Irne Joliot-Curie and son-in-law Frdric Joliot-Curie also received Nobel prizes. Her achievements include the creation of a theory of radioactivity, techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes, and the discovery of two new elements, polonium and radium. It was also under her personal direction that the world's first studies were conducted into the treatment of neoplasms, using radioactive isotopes. While an actively loyal French citizen, she never lost her sense of Polish identity. She named the first new chemical element that she discovered (1898) polonium for her native country, and in 1932 she founded a Radium Institute (now the Maria Skodowska-Curie Institute of Oncology) in her home town Warsaw, headed by her physician-sister Bronisawa. GABRIELLE BONHEUR "COCO" CHANEL (19 AUGUST 1883 - 10 JANUARY 1971) was a pioneering French fashion designer whose modernist philosophy, menswearinspired fashions, and pursuit of expensive simplicity made her an important figure in 20th-century fashion. She was the founder of the famous fashion brand Chanel. Her extraordinary influence on haute couture was such that she was the only person in the field to be named on TIME Magazine's 100 most influential people of the 20th century. The Chanel company has had many high-profile celebrities as spokesmodels, including Catherine Deneuve (1970s Chanel No.5 spokesmodel), Nicole Kidman (early 2000s Chanel No. 5 spokesmodel), Audrey Tautou (current Chanel No.5 spokesmodel), and

most famously, Marilyn Monroe (1950s Chanel No. 5 spokesmodel) pictured splashing herself with a bottle of Chanel No. 5. ALISON JOY YOUNGMAN (1948-2009) Given up for adoption in England at just 6 weeks of age, who would guess that baby Edna would become Alison Youngman, also known as the maestro of multitasking, the bigger than life phenomenon, a high-profile lawyer, tireless volunteer for breast cancer research and above all else an extraordinary role model? Imagine her day-to-day struggles as she broke ground in the domain of competitive, male-dominated, corporate law, all the while leading, mentoring and giving a helping hand to others, especially women, who hoped to follow her path. It was an astute businessman, Fraser Elliott, who immediately recognized Alisons work ethic and capabilities, looking beyond her status and gender. With his encouragement, she attended Osgoode Hall as a mature student and graduated the same year she became a mother. By the time she was expecting her second child, she was adamant that women should not have to ask (or beg) permission to leave the law partnership due to pregnancy. Her perseverance led to a maternity leave policy. Alisons toughest battle was lung cancer that claimed her life in 2009, but it did not slow her lifelong purpose to mentor, lead by example, or encourage friends and family.

3. Conclusion
From the days of old to the modern era, many are still of the opinion that men are the ones who are destined to lead, and women, no matter how prepared or qualified, will serve as followers for most of their lives. The quote above, while certainly dated, nonetheless has a certain ring of truth that many today would not even attempt to refute. The fact that men are born to lead, and that the womans place is at best, by his side, but never in front, is becoming harder and harder to accept and defend in the modern era. In this paper, we have taken a close look at some of the most basic qualities needed in an effective leader, starting off with some commonly agreed upon definitions of what leadership actually is. While some qualities seem to be more present in males than females, there are still many females that posses the necessary characteristics to be very effective leaders. We looked at a few studies that analyzed leadership under research conditions and we have also have taken a close look at some of the more recent studies on this topic, some even conducted at our military academies. Yet nowhere in these studies was there any evidence to suggest that the most fundamental or required characteristic for leadership effectiveness is the gender of the leader. Some historical views of leadership were presented, as well as some modern theories of leadership, and again, there was no mention of gender being a significant factor in terms of leadership effectiveness. We then went into detail on the most commonly agreed to characteristics or attributes of effective leadership, and again, there was a glaring omission relating to gender in most of the data presented.

There was information presented on the role of the follower in evaluating the effectiveness of the leader, and any gender-related issues that might come into play in this regard. And some of the data regarding transactional and transformational leadership portrayed females as being rated higher on the transformational leadership style than males. And lastly, we looked at how intelligence, attitude and credibility applied in the context of leadership and effectiveness. It is the authors firm belief that after doing exhaustive research on this topic and expecting to find all sorts of hard data on why males continue to climb the leadership ladder ahead of women, my conclusions have shown just the opposite. There is simply no clear-cut reason or theory or rationale to explain why women continue to lag in the leadership race both in the corporate world and in the military environment. This leads me to state my personal conclusions as to why I think women are still lagging far behind in leadership positions in the military. My belief is simply that the military has been the sacred and hallowed ground for men to take themselves to some of the most extraordinary levels of mental and physical tasks. They have and will continue to see themselves as the protectors of the feminine gender and as natural leaders since they are physiologically the stronger sex. They will continue to use their superior strength and stamina to attempt to show why women are not as effective or competent as leaders, despite the fact that many of todays modern leadership challenges have little to do with physical strength. And lastly, they will continue to act in ways that have naturally drawn men together in male bonding situations which fundamentally exclude women, and look down upon women who attempt to emulate the very characteristics they look up to in their fellow men. It is sad but true that many men in todays modern military still have some of the age old attitudes regarding women in the services, and most will not admit openly that this is the case. One only has to look at some of the closing comments quoted by Brian Mitchell, to see that while we certainly have come a long way, there are obstacles that are so deeply rooted in the male military subculture, it is very doubtful we will ever see full gender equity at the highest ranks in the U.S. military. This paper attempts to simply be some food for thought as the next generation of leaders takes command in todays military. If this even provides one senior male officer a starting point to judge, reward, mentor and promote only based on capability, and not gender, then this paper will have served its purpose.

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