Gender Gap In Leadership Research Articles

Support on the way to the top? The effects of family-friendly flexible working arrangements in organisations on the promotion of women to management positions—the case of Germany

Women are still significantly underrepresented in management positions, even though they have been able to increase their share to a small extent in recent years. Using arguments derived from signalling theory, this study examines whether organisational family-friendly flexible working arrangements (FFWAs) help to increase internal promotions of women to supervisory or managerial positions and thus reduce the existing gender leadership gap. This effect is investigated using longitudinal data for German workplaces and employees covering 1631 firms and 314,201 employees and fixed effects logistic regression models. The results demonstrate that the implementation of FFWAs improves the chances of internal promotions to supervisory or managerial positions for employees, with women and men benefiting equally. However, if I use a broader definition that also includes highly qualified specialist roles, implementing FFWAs can provide better promotion opportunities for women. Second, FFWAs increase the likelihood of being promoted to managerial positions with reduced working hours, and this effect is slightly stronger for men. Third, surprisingly, no significant positive effects of FFWAs were found on mothers’ promotion of managerial positions. These results show that, even with organisational support, it remains difficult for women to reach management positions and combine family and career at the same time.

How gendered language emerges in applicant materials and leadership descriptions in the hospitality industry: A text analysis study

The hospitality industry faces a gender gap in leadership. Further research is needed to explore if gender stereotypes emerge naturally in applicant materials, like resumes and cover letters. This paper examines the use of agentic and communal language in men and women's self-descriptions in applicant materials, as well as differences in agentic and communal language in descriptions of successful leaders in the industry. Across Studies 1–3, women used more communal language than men in self-descriptions in applicant materials, though differences in agentic language did not emerge. Study 4 found that agentic characteristics were strongly associated with leadership in respondent descriptions of successful leaders in the industry. These findings suggest that gender stereotypes in selection contexts can be attributed to women using more communal language in applicant materials and highlight the need to assess potentially biased selection processes in the hospitality industry.

FEMALE LEADERSHIP AND INTRA-ENTREPRENEURSHIP: DIFFICULTIES, CHALLENGES AND BARRIERS FACED BY WOMEN IN ORGANIZATIONS

In all contemporary industrialized societies, women remain under-represented in meeting rooms and governments. While this gender gap has narrowed, the challenges women face in climbing the corporate and political ladder remain substantial. A male bias in the highest positions of leadership is universal. In fact, in most societies — both past and contemporary — formal political leadership positions were, and continue to be, almost exclusively occupied by men. If today women are not formally forbidden from holding leadership and entrepreneurial positions, they are still fewer or less powerful than their male counterparts. It is difficult to justify the fact that women are less likely to reach the highest echelons in politics, business, science and religion, given that there is no consistent evidence that they are leaders or entrepreneurs worse or better than men by virtue of their female characteristics. Attempting to explain the gender gap in leadership and entrepreneurship involves considering gender stereotypes, prejudice, institutional sexism, etc. This study sought to investigate this gender gap in an exploratory manner, through a literature review and interviews with women in the interentrepreneurship.

The Role of Women in Leadership and Management Positions in Nursing: A Qualitative Study to Explore the Hardships that are being Faced by Women Who Hold Top Positions in Nursing in Malta

The gender gap in leadership is a broad topic which also incorporates diverse studies, with each study providing different justifications for the characteristics of effective leadership. The main aim of this qualitative study is to examine the role of women in leadership in nursing who work in primary healthcare in Malta. This research was set to probe the experiences of women in leadership together with the barriers they face throughout their leadership role. The study was analysed from a constructivist paradigm point of view. The data was gathered through in-depth interviews which were analysed manually by using a hybrid approach design. Amidst the various perceptions gleaned from the study, important aspects that are crucial for successful leadership arose. Furthermore, the importance of communication in leadership, together with the situation of the Maltese context, were explored. In the findings, the participants displayed a clear understanding of effective leadership, one that incorporates the employment of mitigation with various stakeholders. The main recommendations from the study are that the primary healthcare sector should be equipped with more nurses so that new services can be introduced, together with the importance of training programmes in all strata.

Gendered perceptions of career advancement barriers: Unveiling challenges to female corporate leadership development

This study highlights gender-based disparities in perceived barriers to female career advancement in decision-making. Despite more women entering the workforce, their leadership representation remains low, partly due to differing perceptions of barriers by gender (van’t Foort-Diepeveen et al., 2021). Involving 236 executives and utilizing social identity and homosocial theories, the study employs a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and qualitative comments from voluntary respondents. The findings reveal that while both genders acknowledge corporate barriers, they interpret education, experience, and personal life barriers differently. Women often view these as interconnected with corporate challenges, reflecting broader systemic issues (Taparia & Lenka, 2022). The study also highlights the persistence of traditional male networks in corporations, which maintain existing leadership models and hinder change. This insight enhances our understanding of gender disparities in the workplace, particularly in Spanish-listed companies. Academically, it enriches gender studies and corporate leadership discourse by revealing the subtleties in barrier perception and their implications. Practically, it suggests that recognizing and addressing these differences can lead to more effective interventions to promote gender equality in leadership positions. This research urges a reevaluation of barrier perceptions and emphasizes the importance of inclusive strategies to bridge the gender gap in leadership

Tracing Gender Allyship and the Role of Awareness in Addressing the Gender Leadership Gap in Sport Organizations

An extensive literature base has investigated women’s underrepresentation in decision-making positions with sport organizations, yet women’s access to these positions remains limited. Diversification strategies, based on distributive justice, have failed to create further opportunities. A new approach is needed to address this latent issue. The concept of gender allyship is presented to address the limitations of distributive justice paradigms that involves men and women to work as members of a coalition to improve gender equity in sport organizations. Utilizing grounded theory, this paper presents the core category of awareness and related subcategories self-awareness, organizational awareness, and industry awareness, as a means of informing the performance of gender allyship. The findings provide interesting theoretical and empirical implications for understanding the development of awareness, its subcategories, and how it contributes to change.

Un(der)rated: Nonprofit leader gender and external accreditations of transparency

AbstractThe gender‐ethics theory posits that female leaders' higher ethical standards contribute to an improved culture of transparency within an organization. This study examines if the positive implication of women's leadership for organizational transparency replicates in the context of an external accreditation of transparency, using the case of GuideStar's Seal of Transparency (SOT). Unlike what gender‐ethic theory suggests, the results reveal that nonprofits led by female CEOs are not only less likely to have an SOT, but the gap based on CEO gender also increases for higher‐level seals. This study explains the contradiction using concepts of the gender leadership gap and gender differences in the pursuit of external accreditations.

Gender Gap in Leadership of Clinical Trials

This cross-sectional study investigates representation of women as principal investigators of clinical trials by study phase, medical specialty, and representation of women trial participants.

What Are We Waiting for? How Gendered Temporal Experiences Maintain the Gender Leadership Gap

What Are We Waiting for? How Gendered Temporal Experiences Maintain the Gender Leadership Gap

Role of Stereotype Threat, Leadership Aspiration and Work from Home in Gender Gap in Leadership: A Study of the Higher Education Institutions of Pakistan

This study examines the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions in Pakistani higher education institutions (HEIs), where women hold only 4.5% of leadership positions. Despite comprising nearly half of the population and labor force, women tend to pursue teaching careers due to domestic and caregiving responsibilities. Male faculty members predominantly occupy leadership positions in HEIs, which creates stereotype threats and obstacles for female faculty members. The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the situation by increasing domestic and family responsibilities for women. The study used a quantitative, cross-sectional design to collect data from 329 Ph.D. female faculty members working in Pakistani HEIs. The findings offer insights into individual and organisational factors impacting the gender gap in leadership positions and suggest potential remedies to increase the number of women in leadership positions in Pakistani HEIs.

GENDER GAPS IN POLITICAL LEADERSHIP OF PAKISTAN: IDENTIFYING BARRIERS AND STRATEGIES FOR WOMEN'S ADVANCEMENT WITH SPECIAL FOCUS ON KP POLITICAL STRUCTURE

In this study, the gender disparities in political leadership in Pakistan are examined, with a special emphasis on the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. Despite advances in gender equality around the world, women still face substantial obstacles to political representation and leadership roles. This study tries to pinpoint the precise difficulties and impediments to women's advancement in political leadership positions in Pakistan, especially within the distinctive political system of KP. The root causes of the gender leadership gap in politics are identified in this research study by a thorough examination of the literature and analysis of primary and secondary data. Deeply ingrained patriarchal norms, prejudice in culture and society, lack of access to resources and education, political party dynamics, and a lack of institutional assistance are a few of these. Additionally, this research not only discusses the difficulties but also offers suggestions and techniques for advancing women in political leadership. Keywords: Political leadership, gender, culture, traditions, institution.

Leadership development programmes: part of the solution or part of the problem of women’s under-representation in leadership?

PurposeThis paper aims to critically reflect on current leadership development programmes (LDPs) and their potential in addressing the issue of women’s under-representation in leadership positions. To this end, this paper queries the current processes through which employees are selected to participate in LDPs as well as how these programmes are designed.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on Martha Nussbaum’s capabilities approach, this conceptual paper draws attention to the pitfalls of current organisational practices aimed at women’s leadership development.FindingsThe introduction of gender quotas and the implementation of women-only LDPs are unlikely to address the persistent gender leadership gap. Instead, these practices are likely to intensify the negative effects of second-generation gender bias and perpetuate the issue of gender inequality and inequity in the workplace.Originality/valueThis paper critiques contemporary organisational practices aimed at women’s leadership development and suggests alternative practices which are more likely to respond to the issue of women’s under-representation in leadership positions.

Emotional Intelligence and Transformational Leadership: Meta-Analysis and Explanatory Model of Female Leadership Advantage.

Emotional intelligence is a second-stratum factor of general intelligence (MacCann et al. 2014) that: (a) has been popularly touted as an essential individual difference for effective leadership (Goleman 1998), but also (b) exhibits large gender group differences favoring women (Joseph and Newman 2010). Combining these insights, we propose that emotional intelligence is a key mechanism in the so-called female leadership advantage (Eagly and Carli 2003-which emphasizes the finding that women are rated slightly higher in transformational leadership compared to men). The current study seeks to explain this gender leadership gap by specifying three personality-based theoretical mechanisms that enhance transformational leadership: (a) emotional intelligence (favoring women), (b) communion (stereotypical femininity; favoring women; Hsu et al. 2021), as well as an offsetting effect of (c) agency (stereotypical masculinity; favoring men). Meta-analytic data (including original meta-analyses among the leader's ability-based emotional intelligence, transformational leadership, communion, and agency) are used to test our theorized model. Results confirm the full mediation model of female leadership advantage. Because the three unique mechanisms operate in different directions, their individual indirect effects are notable, but their cumulative indirect effect is small and near-zero. In conclusion, we emphasize incorporating emotional intelligence with other personality-based explanations of gender effects in leadership perceptions.

How to Promote Career Advancement and Gender Equity for Women in Gastroenterology: A Multifaceted Approach

How to Promote Career Advancement and Gender Equity for Women in Gastroenterology: A Multifaceted Approach

Early Sociopolitical Development Matters for Inequality: SDO and the Gender Gap in Leadership

Heck, Santhanagopalan, Cimpian, & Kinzler (2021) make a strong case for the incorporation of a developmental perspective for understanding (and reducing) gender inequality in political leadership. ...

Can moral convictions against gender inequality overpower system justification effects? Examining the interaction between moral conviction and system justification.

It has been shown that disadvantaged groups who endorse system-justifying beliefs tend to internalize their state of inferiority by expressing ingroup derogation and opposing collective action for change. In the present research, we recruited women - as disadvantaged group - from different countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy) and examined whether their moral conviction against gender inequality, as an absolute stance that does not tolerate any violation, may interact with and overpower system-justifying beliefs. Results from three studies provided support for our hypotheses. First, when women held strong moral conviction, they expressed higher identification with their disadvantaged ingroup and, in turn, higher collective action intentions, independent of system-justifying beliefs. Second, when women held weak moral conviction, higher system-justifying beliefs reduced women's ingroup identification and, in turn, undermined their collective action intentions. This support is found across different contexts of gender inequality (the gender leadership gap, the gender pay gap, and the gender power imbalance), using different methodological approaches (online survey, online experiment, laboratory experiment). Implications, limits, and future directions are discussed.

Women Leadership in the Digital Era

It is true that women no longer have to be looked for with a magnifying glass in the executive floors of German businesses; however, their share is still small. The digital age holds great potential for increased inclusion and closure of the “Gender Leadership Gap,” especially in the construction industry. Industry standards, including global ones, are being examined to achieve more inclusive corporate governance models. The construction industry, which is regarded as one of the most traditional and conservative, male-dominated industries, serves as the best example for a long overdue need for dynamic restructuring and action related to women leadership. There is a need to redefine, recalibrate, and reshape this industry by increasing women's role in the social, digital, and business transformation processes. This approach bridges the current divide and facilitates movement from discussion and advocacy towards application and practice.

Women leaders' views on demand-side strategies

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine female leaders' attitudes toward demand-side strategies to close the gender-leadership gap and discuss implications for organizations.Design/methodology/approachThis article describes the process of knowledge co-creation that took place using an engaged scholarship epistemology over 23 interviews with North American women in senior leadership roles.FindingsFive key themes related to women leaders' attitudes toward demand-side strategies are discussed. Some felt uncertain or opposed toward these strategies, whereas others supported them. Support for these strategies was dependent on perceptions of backlash regarding the implementation of these strategies and the participants' career stage. Finally, participants acknowledged that demand-side strategies are insufficient in isolation and require additional organizational supports.Research limitations/implicationsThese findings enhance our understanding and provide theoretical refinement of the mechanisms that drive female leaders' reactions to demand-side strategies to close the gender-leadership gap.Practical implicationsParticipants advocated for certain practices to be considered when organizations contemplate the adoption of demand-side strategies. Importantly, participants advocated that the implementation of demand-side strategies would be insufficient unless organizations encourage greater dialogue regarding the gender-leadership gap, that top management support more gender inclusive leadership, and that male colleagues act as allies for women in leadership.Originality/valueThis article extends past research and theory by integrating the pragmatic perspectives of successful female leaders with previous empirical evidence to illustrate different reactions to demand-side strategies and ways for organizations to manage those in their efforts to close the gender-leadership gap.

Succeeding Against the Odds: Successful Female Leaders in Kosovo, Where 8 out of 10 Women Stay Home

Causes, consequences, and potential solutions for the gender gap in leadership have received increased research attention in recent years, with much of the corresponding work occurring in contexts ...

Leaning in: A Historical Perspective on Influencing Women’s Leadership

The term “lean in” was popularized by Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO, via her #1 Best Seller encouraging women to defy their fears and dare to be leaders in their fields. She received criticism because although admitting to external barriers contributing to the gender gap in leadership, the scope of her book focused on the internal shortcomings of women. She asserted that women are hindered by barriers that exist within themselves, and provided practical tips, backed by research, to equip women with strategies to proactively progress in the workplace instead of shying away. Sandberg is not the first to raise concern about gender inequality. Other women in history like Susan B. Anthony and Maggie Lena Walker also challenged lopsided gender roles through their words and actions. Using the critical biography methodology, this paper explores these women’s experiences, philosophies and contributions, reflects on Sandberg’s insight, and develops a framework, based on the theory of planned behavior as well as the ethical principles of utilitarianism and corporate social responsibility, that links internal factors (e.g., self-efficacy, leadership ambition etc.), organizational external factors (e.g., culture, support etc.), and societal external factors (e.g., societal expectations, public policy etc.) to intentions to lean in and leaning in behavior. Thus, via critical biography, this paper examines both internal and external factors, showing how they are linked, and how they may impact leaning in intentions and behavior. The paper also discusses how leaning in may influence both individual and gender mobility for women, and ultimately, increased gender equality.