Blog 30 Leadership Styles

Conventional views about leadership styles disadvantage women and advantage men because they are based on gender stereotypes. In the text, feminine qualities like being nurturing, kind and supportive create a double-bind for women in leadership positions. If she takes on the feminine leadership style she will be viewed as too soft of overly emotional which is a disadvantage. Male qualities are an advantage to them because they are consistent with the traits that an authoritative figure must poses (2003: 116) which include aggressiveness and competitiveness. This is where the double-bind comes into play because if women chose to take on the male conventional leadership style instead of the female style, she will be viewed as aggressive, rigid and unfriendly.

The conventional views about leadership styles inevitably frame expectations for leadership behavior. For example, in the text if a man in a leadership position has a laid back style and a friendly manner, he is perceived as “not the sharpest tool in the shed” (2003:115). Whereas if a woman only socializes with certain people, and not with everyone equally as it is expected of them, she is seen as conniving and manipulative. According to Madeleine Albright on the NPR clip Policy, Sexism and Politics, this is exactly what happened after she was sworn in as the first woman to be U.S. secretary of state. Her leadership style was always scrutinized especially when it corresponded with the expectations of the male leadership style. For example, her behavior would be judged differently than her male counterparts when they would act the exact same way; she be seen as aggressive where a man would be bold, she would be emotional and a man where a man would be sensitive.

How these expectations are framed relate to stereotypes in several ways. According to Deborah Rohde from the Does Gender Matter: Are Women Leaders Different video if a man leaves a meeting early to pick up the kids he is hailed as a new kind of parent and an amazing dad. On the other hand if a woman says she is leaving to pick up her child she is seen as unprofessional and disloyal to the company. This happens because people remember things that confirm their gender stereotypes but not the things that contradict their perceptions. So they will remember when a woman leaves early but will forget how she often stays late.

A negative outcome of possessing female and male leadership qualities can be that people won’t take you seriously as a leader, especially for women. Sometimes women are judged on their leadership qualities before they get to exercise them like with Sonia Sotomayer and other female politicians. For example, a panelist from the Women as Leaders video clip described her experience when trying to running for office at her local city counsel. She went door to door and experienced the negative perceptions that people have about women in leadership. She mentions knocking on the door of one woman who said, “I’ve been praying for you but I’m not voting for you” because of her personal choice in keeping her last name. This woman thought she would make a bad leader she was going to hell because she kept her last name instead of cherishing her husbands. She experienced much apprehension and even overt discriminating though hate mail for being a Mexican American woman.

I prefer shared leadership styles as described in Shared Leadership: The Value Women Leaders Bring, because it creates positive outcomes. First of all shared leadership makes a positive difference in production and performance. For example, the companies that have more women in management and more women on the board return 34% more in profits than the companies that don’t have many women in the company. Their presence leads to increase performances because they provide personal experiences that contribute to the management people, the development teams and the creation relationships and partnerships. All of these attributes combine with male leadership styles to create a more cohesive and successful work environment.

English, H. (2003). Gender on Trial: Sexual Stereotypes and Work/Life Balance in
the Legal Workplace. New York: ALM Publishing.