PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between ethical leadership and the quality of the manager-subordinate relationship, as well as the moderating effect of female employees’ psychological empowerment on this relationship.Design/methodology/approachThis is quantitative research in which an online questionnaire was distributed to female subordinates from multinational enterprises in Malaysia (n = 120). A partial least square is used for analysis in this research.FindingsThe findings confirm a strong positive correlation between all the seven ethical leadership dimensions and the quality of manager-subordinate relationship (leader member exchange). However, the moderating effect of psychological empowerment was found to be insignificant for two of the seven dimensions of ethical leadership.Originality/valueThis study contributes to highlighting new perspectives of women empowerment. Moreover, it also uncovers psychological factor that influences manager-subordinate relationship using cognitive evaluation theory. The seven dimensions of ethical leadership have not been tested in the past studies (only identified, not tested separately).