Table of contents:
- What characteristics should a good leader have?
- So, who is better to be a leader, male or female?
- What is the conclusion?
There is a real gender gap when it comes to the leadership positions of men and women in the workplace. There are currently 18 women world leaders, including 12 women heads of government and 11 elected women heads of state (some leaders hold both positions, and royal leaders are not included), according to 2015 UN data. These women represent only one tenth of the world's leaders. currently from UN member states.
Today, women make up only 14.6 percent of business executives and less than 5 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs and the same percentage of CEO positions in the Fortune 1000.And the gap seems to be improving at lower-level management, but not really going away - in middle-level management, for example, only about a quarter of managers are women.
The problem may stem in part from sexist assumptions. In a new study, researchers found that society perceives men as having good leadership qualities, but with women, people tend to be more skeptical. Which of course then boosts the public's idea of who is more appropriate and capable of handling certain management jobs.
What characteristics should a good leader have?
Based on the PEW Research Center survey, in public estimation, some characteristics have a heavier importance than others. Honesty, intelligence, and assertiveness are considered "very important" leadership qualities by at least eight out of ten adults.
Approximately two-thirds of adults (67%) say that good order and organization are important qualities that a leader must possess. Followed by sympathy and compassion (57%), innovative (56%), or ambitious (53%) are characters that are considered important in leadership qualities.
A larger gender gap emerged in a number of traits that were deemed less important. Women were more likely than men to say compassion was an important factor for a leader: 66% of women said this, compared to 47% of men. Women also place a higher value on innovation than men. About 61% of women considered this trait to be truly important in a leader, compared to 51% of men. In addition, women were more likely than men to cite ambition as an important trait for a leader (57% of women and 48% of men said this characteristic really matters). This overall gender gap is being driven by a generation of young people who are millennials - millennials.
So, who is better to be a leader, male or female?
Society sees little difference between men and women in some of the leadership traits above. The majority of people say that when it comes to intelligence and innovation - based on four separate global surveys from the PEW Research Center, Harvard Business Review, Business Tech, and Business Insider - men and women display the same qualities. And almost the entire society does not see gender differences in ambition, honesty, and assertiveness.
However, there are still many who differentiate the quality of leadership between men and women based on certain characteristics. For example, male leaders score higher on the aspects of making difficult decisions and handling controversial issues or crises, calmly and confidently.
Interestingly, in a survey by the Harvard Business Review, only three out of 12 professional categories rated men as being more effective than their female "competitors", and two of these - customer service and administrative functions - have traditionally been considered jobs for women woman. In fact, the biggest advantage of women in ranking of effectiveness compared to men is generally more in the functional areas that are usually very male-dominated (sales, general management, R&D, IT, and product development).
The public is also more likely to judge women to be more organized and organized leaders than men, and rarely does the opposite. In addition, according to survey findings, respondents rated female leaders more highly on leading men by being “role models”; are better at communicating openly and transparently; more likely to admit mistakes; and bring out the best in others.
In addition, society is more likely to perceive women as more affectionate and exhibit 'nurturing' competencies, such as developing the potential of others and building relationships. In all survey cases, women did show higher scores than men.
And, two of the classic traits such as "quick to take the initiative" and "work for the results" that have been inherent as a male strength, are dominated by female leaders who score the highest. By contrast, men only ranked first in one category of management competence, according to a Harvard Business Review survey - the ability to develop a strategic perspective.
One survey also found that, globally, men are almost outperformed by their women - 54% versus 46% - as the gender that the world's population expect to steer us through the challenges in the next five years.
What is the conclusion?
According to Ketchum Leadership Communication Monitor , this survey is instead used as a hammer beat that every future world leader must be a woman, and that men no longer have a place in leadership. On the contrary, it is time to ignore society's age-old notions of gender roles in the workplace. Women will excel when given the opportunity to shine. So it is with men, especially when they also feel the need to prove themselves in non-traditional roles.
The common thread of all these surveys is that no gender is better than the other. The survey findings focus more on how men and women can develop their leadership skills and abilities, and no specific areas are devoted to one gender or another.
What is needed to develop a great leader, whether male or female, is their own willingness to develop themselves, to be given opportunities to grow through challenging job assignments, and support through mentoring and coaching from senior leaders.
