Leadership and Gender Differences—Are Men and Women Leading in the Same Way?

Abstract

In this chapter, we aim to highlight the main gender diferences in terms of leadership, to provide a critical comparative analysis, to discuss potential barriers that need to be overcome, and to ind some ways of increasing organizational performance through a beter leadership style. The focus will not be placed on the gender diferences by themselves but on the ways these diferences can positively inluence the organizational performance.Our proposed chapter is mainly based on literature review as a methodology in its own right. Since literature review has revealed quite many divergent opinions, we also used questionnaires and interviews as data collection tools and we intend to present some of our results, without aiming to generalize all these results to diferent cultures. We cannot conclude that men's leadership skills are more powerful and more important than women's skills or vice versa, but it is clear that gender diferences do exist and people should capitalize on them. We consider the word 'complementary' is beter than the word 'diferent' when talking about leadership styles and that it is possible for leaders to develop a series of skills that are not necessarily traditionally linked to their own gender.

Leadership Skills and their Associated Factors among Pharmacy Students at Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia

“…Regarding gender, the present study found that there is no significant association between gender and leadership capacity. Similarly, the majority of other studies have not been able to identify any major variations in the leadership style based on gender [26,27,28]. Rosch, et al, conducted a study among undergraduate college students to determine their motivational levels to lead and they suggested also that leadership styles and leading motivation were not influenced by the gender of the student [29].…”

Revisiting gender workspace blind spots

“…However, many of the traits of a transformational leader, such as collaboration and empowerment, are traditionally thought of as feminine attributes. Women are often more emotionally driven and less aggressive, tend not to act as authoritarian, are more supportive and creative, and are often more quick to give credit to others for their success [6]. In fact, a review of the Fortune 500 companies shows that those with female leadership have much higher productivity in general than those with predominantly male leadership [7].…”

The Leadership Styles of the Local Universities and Colleges’ Administrators

“…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. In the area of instructional leadership, women spend more years as principals and teachers, and have more degrees than men; they emphasized the importance of curriculum and instruction in their work (Eagly, 2013;Kuchynková, 2015;Radu, Deaconu & Frăsineanu, 2017).…”