Women leaders' views on demand-side strategies

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alyson Byrne ◽  
Ingrid C. Chadwick ◽  
Amanda J. Hancock
Keyword(s):  
Women Leaders ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Women In Leadership ◽  
Career Stage ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Management Support ◽  
Demand Side ◽  
Engaged Scholarship ◽  
Female Leaders ◽  
Content Type

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.

African American women leadership across contexts

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 353-376
Author(s):  
Shannon Sales ◽  
Monica Galloway Burke ◽  
Colin Cannonier
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African American Women ◽  
Women Leaders ◽  
Q Methodology ◽  
Women In Leadership ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Content Type ◽  
American Women ◽  
History Of ◽  
Perceptions Of Leadership

Purpose This paper aims to examine women leaders from diverse career backgrounds and ethnicities to discover their perspectives of their leadership roles and empowerment to determine similarities and differences among them, focusing on the perspectives of African American women. Design/methodology/approach The review process began with a comprehensive review of African American women in history in the context of leadership and empowerment. Next, a Q-sort methodology was used as a semi-qualitative approach for women leaders to rank words of empowerment and facilitate discussions among these women. The Q methodology is known for exploring issues that are correlated with individuals who are influenced with personal feelings and opinions. Findings The paper concludes that perceptions of leadership roles differ among the African American women leaders when compared to other ethnicities. The results support the idea that women from diverse ethnic backgrounds have different experiences in the workplace, and these experiences influence how they identify factors they perceive as beneficial to them in terms of their perspectives on leadership and empowerment. Several themes emerged for African American women leaders including being overlooked, marginalized, undervalued and unappreciated in their professions as leaders due to their dual minority status. As it is now as it was in the past, such barriers can deter or stop progression for African American women leaders. Originality/value The history of African American women in leadership roles is scantily recognized or not recognized at all. This paper highlights leadership roles and barriers for African American women currently in leadership roles in contrast to other women. The issues they face are still similar to those faced by African American women in earlier decades in spite of increased career mobility. A relatively understudied topic in leadership and management history in general, this paper provides a unique lens from which to build awareness about the leadership roles and empowerment of African American women and to effect needed change.

scholarly journals Challenges of Women in Leadership Roles During Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (S1-Feb) ◽  
pp. 29-37
Author(s):  
Savitri Jayant ◽  
M R Suji Raga Priya
Keyword(s):  
Women Leaders ◽  
Leadership Style ◽  
Paper Analysis ◽  
Women In Leadership ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Female Leaders ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Depth Interview ◽  
Rapid Transition ◽  
The Impact

Women around the world are paving the way for an inspiring style of leadership that is dynamic, confident, authentic, and highly effective. It is evident that the countries led by women leaders seem to have been particularly successful in fighting the Coronavirus. The rapid transition to remote employment has taken about other problems for organisations, for successful performance assessment, monitoring, and transparency are often a challenge. The new dilemma focuses around how senior leaders should rethink in decision making and other ways that promote trust, innovation, and cooperation. Therefore, Woman leaders during this pandemic situation are faced with certain challenges that require them to readjust and reorganize to establish a balance between work-related and family-related characteristics. This research paper analysis how female leaders are feeling the impact of the pandemic and how they are expanding their leadership style and also how they influence in work today and beyond. This paper is based on the pilot study conducted among Women withleadership roles working in IT and Educational sector. A Survey with in-depth interview and questionnaire has been used to collect the data and it is analysed through a comparative and regression study. The study also focuses on acute challenges faced by Women working in leadership roles from home and ways to improve the quality and to aspire to boost the standard of leadership in these tumultuous times.

Leadership and women: The space between us. Narrating the stories of senior female educational leaders in Malta

2020 ◽  
pp. 174114322092903
Author(s):  
Robert Vella
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equity ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Educational Leaders ◽  
Women In Leadership ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Female Leaders ◽  
Doctoral Study ◽  
Training Programmes

The main objective of this research is to investigate the perceptions and experiences of senior female educational leaders in Malta, where senior leaders are considered as those leaders from the Minister of Education to leaders at directorial level. Although Malta’s laws relating to gender equity are in line with those of the European Union, traditional beliefs and values, including those shaped by the Catholic Church, mean that in many areas of social life, women and girls continue to be perceived as inferior. The study is framed within a constructivist and interpretivist paradigm and takes a narrative approach. Throughout 2017 to 2018, in-depth interview data was collected from eight senior female leaders in the Maltese education department. Data used from an ongoing doctoral study was analysed manually using a hybrid method in order to establish the relevant themes. The findings from the study demonstrated that women in educational leadership roles in Malta have to face challenges specific to their being female. The study recommends, among other things, real family friendly measures by organisations, organised professional development programmes for women in leadership and for those aspiring to be leaders, and training programmes focused on how to build healthy collegial relationships.

scholarly journals Women in Leadership Positions, Road to Success, A Case Study, Bahrain

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samar Jawdat Al-Barghouthi
Keyword(s):  
Women Leaders ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Women In Leadership ◽  
Business Leaders ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Female Leaders ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Women In Business ◽  
Contingency Leadership

Bahrain is a Muslim Arab tribal society, where women play a significant role in the countries’ development, and the number of female business leaders is increasing rapidly. Understanding the circumstances that brought these women to the forefront of business in their country will lead to constructing a better business environment for women in the future. The aim of this study is to explore these women in terms of: the secret behind their successes, their beliefs, and motivation towards leadership. The study tries to identify the “gap” in the scholarly literature on Bahraini women in business, and to provide in-depth data on female leaders in the region.The study employs the inductive approach, using an in-depth qualitative open-ended interview, developed and based on the contingency leadership theory. And the Weber framework of authority.The results indicate that the main factors contributing to the success of women leaders are social status, cultural, gender, struggle, and difficulties from women leaders’ point of view. This is a pilot study for further in-depth quantitative research in Bahrain and the GCC countries. This study is made up of eight samples. It is anticipated that future comparative research will be extended to a further quantitative study to cover a wider sample of Bahrain and GCC countries.The paper is considered as one of the first to discuss the factors affecting the success of businesswomen in Bahrain, rather than the factors that empower them.

scholarly journals Women in veterinary leadership positions: their motivations and enablers

2019 ◽  
Vol 186 (5) ◽  
pp. 155-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Tindell ◽  
Renate Weller ◽  
Tierney Kinnison
Keyword(s):  
Role Models ◽  
Future Generation ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Women In Leadership ◽  
Female Leadership ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Motivating Factors ◽  
Female Leaders ◽  
Veterinary Profession ◽  
Veterinary Surgeons

BackgroundDespite now having higher numbers of women than men within the veterinary profession, there are substantially less women in leadership roles. Research, primarily in other professions, has focussed on barriers to leadership and sometimes overlooked facilitators and motivators. This study aimed to explore the motivating factors for female veterinary surgeons to become leaders, to identify potential strategies to increase female leadership.MethodsSixteen female leaders from academia, professional bodies, industry and clinical practice took part in semistructured interviews. Interviews were analysed using a thematic analysis approach.ResultsTwo themes were developed: ‘Potential for positive influence’ and ‘Requirement of external enablers’. Participants wanted to influence change for themselves, including work-life balance and developing their role, and for others through a position of influence. They wanted to inspire and mentor the future generation of leaders. External enablers allowed this transition to occur, including formal mentors and informal support systems, opportunities for growth and increased responsibility, and leadership training.ConclusionPotential strategies to increase female leaders include the promotion of female role models, increasing awareness of training and increasing work flexibility. The profession could improve its support of the next generation of leaders and celebrate the successful female leaders we already possess.

scholarly journals Gender, authentic leadership and identity: analysis of women leaders’ autobiographies

2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (5/6) ◽  
pp. 339-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isla Kapasi ◽  
Katherine J.C. Sang ◽  
Rafal Sitko
Keyword(s):  
Women Leaders ◽  
Authentic Leadership ◽  
Women In Leadership ◽  
The Body ◽  
Media Representations ◽  
Gender And Leadership ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Gendered Leadership

Purpose Leadership theories have moved from viewing leadership as an innate trait, towards models that recognise leadership as a social construction. Alongside this theorisation, gender and leadership remain of considerable interest, particularly given the under-representation of women in leadership positions. Methodological approaches to understanding leadership have begun to embrace innovative methods, such as historical analyses. This paper aims to understand how high profile women leaders construct a gendered leadership identity, with particular reference to authentic leadership. Design/methodology/approach Thematic analysis of autobiographies, a form of identity work, of four women leaders from business and politics: Sheryl Sandberg, Karren Brady, Hillary Clinton and Julia Gillard. Findings Analyses reveal that these women construct gender and leadership along familiar normative lines; for example, the emphasis on personal and familial values. However, their stories differ in that the normative extends to include close examination of the body and a sense of responsibility to other women. Overall, media representations of these “authentic” leaders conform to social constructions of gender. Thus, in the case of authentic leadership, a theory presented as gender neutral, the authenticity of leadership has to some extent been crafted by the media rather than the leader. Originality/value The study reveals that despite attempts to “craft” and control the image of the authentic self for consumption by followers, gendered media representations of individuals and leadership remain. Thus, alternative approaches to crafting an authentic leadership self which extend beyond (mainstream) media is suggested.

Attributions for Success and Failure of Men and Women in Leadership Positions

1994 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 1307-1312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth S. Shultz
Keyword(s):  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Women In Leadership ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Female Leaders ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Female Leader ◽  
Performance Ability ◽  
Male Leader

Attributions for the success and failure of men and women in leadership positions were examined as a function of the subjects' attitudes towards women in leadership roles (as measured by the Women As Managers Scale of Peters, Terborg, and Taynor. 80 men and 80 women were randomly assigned to one of four conditions in which a leader's performance was described, i.e., male leader—success, male leader—failure, female leader—success, female leader—failure. Subjects then rated the importance they believed each of four factors had in determining the leader's performance (ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck). A general reluctance of subjects to make external attributions and to distinguish between male and female leaders was found.

Driving new narratives: women-leader identities in the automotive industry

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 200-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina L. Bullock
Keyword(s):  
Automotive Industry ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Communication Theory ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Women In Leadership ◽  
Work Experiences ◽  
Female Leaders ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Communication Theory Of Identity ◽  
Experiences Of Women

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the identity-related work experiences of women in leadership in the US automotive industry. Drawing upon the communication theory of identity’s four identity frames, this study analyzes women’s narratives to better understand their self-concepts, work relationships and activities within larger corporate automotive contexts. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative methodology consisting of 16 in-depth interviews with women in leadership in automotive organizations was adopted. Interviews examined women’s perceptions and identities at work, including their daily behaviors, relationships with others and their perceptions of the larger automotive community. Findings Findings demonstrate that women in leadership in the automotive industry experience contradictory feelings, messages and interactions that impact their identity perceptions and expectations for performance and achievement in their work settings. Practical implications The experiences of women in leadership in US automotive organizations could provide examples of identity-related topics valuable to practitioner fields where women seek relevant, gender-specific, guidance, resources and strategies to advance in their careers. Social implications The findings in this study raise awareness about some of the social issues women in leadership face in automotive corporations, including complex identity-related challenges present in their workplaces. Originality/value This paper is the first of its type to examine the narratives of women’s career life in leadership in automotive organizations through a communication theory of identity lens. It extends knowledge about female leaders as they navigate the dissonant worlds of achieving higher positions whilst holding membership in a marginalized group.

Success and agency: localizing women’s leadership in Oman

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (7) ◽  
pp. 606-618 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maia Hallward ◽  
Hania Bekdash-Muellers
Keyword(s):  
Women Leaders ◽  
Women's Leadership ◽  
Women In Leadership ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Women's Agency ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Women’S Agency ◽  
Hired Labor ◽  
High Level ◽  
Domestic Support

Purpose This study aims to examine women’s leadership in Oman, seeking to empirically determine whether and how local perceptions of “success” and lifestyle preferences are related to women’s agency and propensity for leadership. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on the literature, this paper qualitatively analyzes 32 semi-structured interviews of diverse Omani women leaders, identifying their conceptions of success as predominantly subjective or objective. At the same time, the study uses Hakim’s (2006) lifestyle preference model to explore women's agency. Findings Contrary to the literature on the central importance of domestic responsibilities for Arab Muslim women, more women in leadership positions are identified as career-centered (14/32, 44%); those who did identify as family-centered (6/32, 19%) did not cite Islam to justify that preference, and success is envisioned more subjectively (19/32, 59%). Research limitations/implications The sample has an urban bias and does not claim to be representative of all Omani women. Interviews were conducted in English; most women leaders in Oman are required to speak English. Practical implications By analyzing work-life balance preferences as a proxy for agency and interrogating Omani women's own conceptions of success, the study may lead to more robust and culturally aware policies to support women’s leadership. Social implications Defining in subjective terms suggests that success is not necessarily equated with achieving a high level position for Omani women. Further, only 6/32 were identified as home-centered, thus indicating the critical importance of domestic support from hired labor or family members. Originality/value This study contributes new empirical findings on women leaders in Oman that illustrates the role of personal agency and lifestyle preference in contrast to many studies that treat culture as a constant.

Towards a Fairer Future

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 52-68
Author(s):  
Courtney Cook
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
White Women ◽  
Nonprofit Sector ◽  
Leadership Skills ◽  
Black Girls ◽  
Women In Leadership ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Female Leaders ◽  
Black And White

In the study on which this article is based, I examine the correlation between the number of Black girls in leadership programs and the number of Black female leaders in nonprofit organizations. I carried out research on Black girl leadership to understand the shortcomings of programs meant to teach Black girls appropriate leadership skills and I conducted interviews with female leaders to determine the hurdles faced by Black women trying to obtain leadership roles in the nonprofit sector. My findings show that there is a disconnect between Black and white women in leadership roles and that impediments for Black women affect leadership prospects for Black girls. This article is a call to create an activist model that supports the professional trajectories of Black girls.

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