Women and Leadership

I came across a very interesting article in Harvard Business Review -”Women and the Labyrinth of Leadership”, Alice H. Eagly and Linda L. Carli

“Despite years of progress by women in the workforce (they now occupy more than 40% of all managerial positions in the United States), within the C-suite they remain as rare as hens’ teeth. Consider the most highly paid executives of Fortune 500 companies—those with titles such as chairman, president, chief executive officer, and chief operating officer. Of this group, only 6% are women. Most notably, only 2% of the CEOs are women, and only 15% of the seats on the boards of directors are held by women. The situation is not much different in other industrialized countries. In the 50 largest publicly traded corporations in each nation of the European Union, women make up, on average, 11% of the top executives and 4% of the CEOs and heads of boards. Just seven companies, or 1%, of Fortune magazine’s Global 500 have female CEOs. What is to blame for the pronounced lack of women in positions of power and authority?”

There are some success stories of Asian women holding top leadership appointments – Gloria Arroyo, the late Benazir Bhutto, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, Megawati Sukarnoputri, but to name a few. But I observed that there was much resistance in their assumption of power and criticism about their political decisions. One was even assassinated! Was it simply because they are women and the men were resentful of their leadership? Or were they mere puppets of other unseen leadership powers? One can only speculate.

As someone who has held various leadership appointments and worked in a very male dominated environment, I found the article to be insightful of the experiences I encountered in my leadership appointments. I don’t deny that I have made mistakes and probably cheesed off some of my male colleagues in the process! The truth of the matter was that I felt I had to work doubly hard to prove my worth in some of my previous work environments. But once my credibility was established, things moved smoothly for me. I was very fortunate to be given numerous opportunities by my bosses, being mentored by great bosses and I was even promoted before some of my male colleagues.

But it all came with a price. I didn’t have much of a social life during those years and was usually physically and mentally exhausted during the evenings and weekends (hence my single status). In retrospect, I think I should have delegated more of my tasks and balanced my priorities better.

Is the modern Asian woman able to juggle pinnacle leadership appointments, family and other traditional feminine roles? Obviously, it depends on the individual and context. Some women are excellent at multi-tasking, some women are blessed with supportive partners/families, while some women are formidably driven. Nevertheless, this juggling comes with lots of sacrifices. How many of us are up to the task?

Men, on the other hand, are in some ways, more advantaged. “Behind every great man, there is a great woman” – it is never phrased the other way round! Men are generally more accepted to be leaders. No matter how successful a woman, there is still a commonly accepted view that she should stand by her man. Will the tide change? Or does the tide need to change?

If women are to achieve equality, women and men will have to share leadership equally. I personally think it will only be a question of time before more women take up pinnacle leadership posts.

To all the great and passionate women leaders out there, keep going!