Women’s leadership is defined as the participation of women in positions of power and decision-making in organizations. The concept was developed by Marilyn Loden, Sally Helgesen, and Helen Fisher over forty years ago and has reinvigorated the debate on gender equality in recent years.
IN 1978, Loden coined the term “glass ceiling”, arguing that the barriers to women’s career aspirations, opportunities and progression were mostly cultural
rather than personal or psychological. Lode challenged the tendency of many women to adhere to a masculine leadership style to fit into the dominant system and defended a different way of leading more in line with the positive characteristics traditionally attributed to women.
According to the three authors, women’s leadership stands out in these four areas: Listening, empathy, communication and teamwork.
We agree that in broad strokes that women demonstrate a leadership style that is more open to people and to establishing employee relations. Some noteworthy talents of women’s leadership include the flexibility to work as a team and the ability to bring groups together.
Additionally, women tend to be more concerned about diversity and equity in organizational structures, which results in a healthier and more pleasant work environment committed to collective goals. In a recent edition of Esade Gender Monitor, 71% of survey respondents found women Chief Executive Officers to be much more active on issues of equality, inclusion, and diversity.
Aside from the recent dramas we see where some women in power demonstrated some sorts of abnormal behaviours, great Nigerian women like Chief Margret Ekpo, Professor Dora Akunyili, Professor Grace Alele-Williams, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Prof Chinyere Okunna, Mrs Nonye Soludo to mention but a few would always resonate perfect leadership qualities, worthy of emulation at anytime in history.
Written by TONY OKAFOR
Comments are closed for this post.