Gender and Successful Leadership: Essay

Isn’t it inconvenient that women are perceived as less effective leaders than men? Isn’t it inconvenient that women are valued less than men around the world? And isn’t the 21st century the ideal time to create change and equality in the world for a more prosperous tomorrow? Continuing to live with the world’s current and inaccurate perceptions about women’s leadership abilities represents a greater inconvenience than the inconvenience that would arise from educating and implementing a new leadership development model and shifting society’s deeply embedded roots about gender. It is misinformation that is shifting society’s viewpoint to believe that women are less as effective as leaders, and this, in turn, impacts the decisions that businesses make. In order to create a better world for tomorrow, we need to address and abolish this inaccurate perception by shifting societal views today. This outcome will stimulate business growth and create higher levels of gender equality around the world.

Understanding the Concern

Gender inequality in the workforce has plagued the business world for decades and continues to do so today. Although women represent about half of the world’s current workforce, women’s salaries are lower than those of their male counterparts throughout every level of the workforce. More astoundingly, men dominate the executive ranks in businesses, and women are faced with many disproportionate challenges while attempting to reach the top. This is exemplified at the level of executive suites where women are grievously underrepresented. Women lead only 5.5% of the world’s most powerful companies and only 12.5% of Fortune 500 companies have women CFOs. Although women represent 49% of the global workforce, research shows that women hold under a quarter (24%) of senior roles across the world in 2018 and that 25% of global businesses have no women in senior management roles. There is a profound impact on the world due to these exclusions. Business executives play an instrumental role in shaping the products and services that companies offer, and they exert an immense influence on the mission and values of an organization. They also play a major role in defining and promoting the public face of their organizations and impact society in profound ways. This disparity of gender inequality translates to the customer landscape being skewed by male perspectives. This means that both consumers and businesses are losing out without the valuable female perspective. Finally, this means that businesses are not reaching their ultimate potential in sales and are missing massive bands of consumers who are not being completely represented by these companies that are trying to reach them.

Gender equality in upper-level management can play an impactful role in the organization’s bottom line. Research finds that companies with three or more women on their boards or in senior management roles exhibit produced median gains of 10% return on equity and 37% greater earnings per share. It is also proven that gender equality in upper management pays off because companies that experience a ratio of gender representation closer to fifty-fifty report a 41% increase in revenue. These financial benefits are a no-brainer for companies to strive for, yet this has still not been achieved in most organizations around the world, and why is that?

The big question that needs to be addressed is why these disparities continue to exist. There are two main components that have grounded this ideology for decades. The first is the inaccurate perceptions around the world that women are less effective as leaders than men. Research even proves that it’s not only men who believe this perception but also women too. A study conducted by Comparably recently released a ranking of the best CEOs for women, and the top 25 of them happen to be men. In order the effectively rank these CEOs, Comparably surveyed females about their current employment and found that they had a preference for male leadership, as appose to the common thought that women would prefer female leadership. The study also found that this preference for men in leadership was so strong that male managers were preferred 2:1 over female managers, and even among women who were managers themselves, 75% stated a preference for male management. It is also important to consider that there is absolutely no evidence that male CEOs or male leaders, in general, are more competent or are in some way better leaders for businesses. This fact only deepens the psychological bias that persists even in 2018 that is plaguing society about women being less effective as leaders.

The second component of this perception is that emotional intelligence is the number one factor in successful leadership. As Daniel Goleman says, “Emotional intelligence (EQ) is twice as important as IQ and technical skills”. Research also proves that women experience higher levels of emotional intelligence than men do, and this trait is very important, especially in executive-level leadership positions. Due to socialization which strengthens EQ in women and inhibits EQ in men, research has found that 19% of female executives exhibit high self-awareness and emotional intelligence compared to their male counterparts who only exhibit 4%. However, it is known that emotional intelligence can be learned. This evidence proves that not only could women be extremely powerful and successful leaders, but the concept that both men and women could benefit from increased learned emotional intelligence and ultimately improve the lives of today and the world of tomorrow. Sociological research shows that women since childhood are socialized to develop higher levels of emotional intelligence. While men, on the contrary, are socialized to hide their emotions and are shied away from being vulnerable. But leaders need emotional intelligence. So, if women experience a higher level of emotional intelligence, and emotional intelligence is the number one factor in being a successful leader, why are more women not leaders in businesses right now?

It is clear that gender and emotional intelligence can impact a company’s bottom line, but emotional intelligence and gender equality are in such short supply among leaders and organizations today.

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Closing the Gap

We need to shift the world’s beliefs because this inaccurate perception will only undermine the world’s prosperity in the 21st century. Continuing to believe in this myth will only repeat history and will not allow businesses around the world to reach their full potential which will be achieved with greater gender balance in upper-level management. So, how can we close the gap?

First, we need to invest our attention in generating knowledge and value behind stimulating business growth by empowering women leaders and creating more gender equality and opportunity around the world. Why? Because currently, we are failing to question the systems and beliefs that govern the equality of opportunity between men and women. We need to really think, are the current beliefs and systems the best we can achieve?

The answer is no. We need to change. And how can we create this change? By implementing a new executive development leadership model that will address the realities of gender inequalities, and gender socialization, and focus on increasing leaders' emotional intelligence. This is important because most leadership development models today focus on leadership assessments and common leadership styles and approaches with fewer touching upon the importance of emotional intelligence in leadership. Even in these efforts, Goleman finds that the EQ programs are ineffective because they do not engage the limbic brain. The limbic brain deals with emotion, memories, and stimulation and needs to be used when dealing with change and targeting deeply embedded beliefs. This program will focus on engaging the limbic brain while using a ‘yes and’ approach that can be linked to the world of improvisation and design thinking to increase leaders' emotional intelligence. Incorporating the use of the limbic brain in our program will be an effective way of teaching emotional intelligence. Change most efficiently starts at the top, so implementing this model will be most effective by targeting an organization’s executives. By starting with top executives, changes can be enacted and ultimately streamlined down and around organizations, and eventually challenge and change these beliefs among the entire world.

We need to promote this new leadership approach and shift societal views about this belief because, without this program, we will only continue to repeat history. Many countries around the world have enacted many legal jurisdictions and quotas to promote the role and presence of women in executive roles and on boards, but little progress has been made to resolve this dilemma. Therefore, we need this new system of change.

One logic that supports the ideology of creating a greater gender balance of women in leadership roles and greater gender equality around the world can be explained by utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that rejects systems that dwell on customs, traditions, and orders that are given by leaders and supernatural beings. Utilitarians believe that the purpose of morality is to make life better by increasing the number of good things in the world and decreasing the number of bad things such as pain and unhappiness. Gender inequality around the world is a harmful matter that plagues our society, and increasing gender balance in business globally will benefit everyone without the threat of a zero-sum game. Unlike a zero-sum situation, this approach will provide each participant, men, and women, an equal gain and increased potential in the world. This means that with greater gender equality both men and women will benefit, as well as businesses around the world can continue to flourish on a broader spectrum, both financially and sociologically. Isn’t this what we want? Isn’t the goal in life to create a better, happier, more equal, and fulfilling world for future generations to prosper in? This inconvenient perception that women should be valued less and women are not as effective as leaders need to be abolished so as a world we can flourish.

Conclusion

With greater gender equality in upper-level management in organizations around the world, not only would organizations reap the financial benefits, but they would also be promoting the creation of a more equal, just, and ethical society. We cannot continue repeating the past any longer and the 21st century is the time to shift these perceptions, stimulate the economy, and make the world a better and more equal place for future generations to prosper.