Northouse, Leadership 9e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
Lecture Notes
Chapter 14: Gender and Leadership
Learning Objectives
14-1 Describe the leadership labyrinth.
14-2 Describe gender differences in leadership styles and effectiveness.
14-3 Discuss the strengths of the research on leadership and gender.
14-4 Discuss the criticisms of the research on leadership and gender.
14-5 Recognize applications of the research on gender in leadership.
Annotated Chapter Outline
I. Description
A. Initial research in the field merely asked “Can women lead?”, which has since been
proven true with increasing opportunities for women.
i. Now, research in this area examines different questions:
a. Do men and women lead differently?
B. The Glass Ceiling Turned Labyrinth
i. Although the gender gap in leadership has improved significantly in recent
decades, there is still a long way to go to traverse a leadership labyrinth.
a. Women now earn over half of all secondary degrees and make up more
than half of the United States labor force.
d. Glass escalator: Conversely to the glass elevator, the invisible
machinery escalating white men to top leadership positions.
ii. The gender gap in leadership is a global phenomenon whereby women are
disproportionately concentrated in lower-level and lower-authority leadership
positions.
Northouse, Leadership 9e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
a. One prominent set of explanations for the labyrinth is that women have
less human capital investment in education, training, and work
iii. There are a few differences that may be associated:
a. Less work experience and employment continuity than men, driven
b. Men’s participation has increased, but is much less than half in most
cases.
c. In times of crisis, working mothers are hit the hardest—they were more
e. In normal times, women must respond to work–home conflicts and do
f. Antiquated workplace norms make it difficult for women to rise in the
iv. The “mommy track” position holds that this culturally prescribed division of labor
leads women to self-select to take themselves out of leadership tracks.
a. This argument is unsupported.
v. Women have fewer developmental opportunities at work than do men.
a. May be due in part to prejudice.
b. Women are granted fewer responsibilities and are less likely to receive
vi. When women are promoted to leadership positions, they may be more likely
than men to be placed on a “glass cliff”—in other words, appointed to precarious
leadership situations associated with greater risk and criticism.
a. Dooming them to fail contributes to the notion that women are
ineffective leaders.
Northouse, Leadership 9e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
vii. In sum, the only supported difference is that women have less work experience
and more career interruptions than men; they receive less formal training and
have fewer developmental opportunities at work than men.
II. Gender Differences in Leadership Styles and Effectiveness
A. Other arguments attempting to explain the leadership gap revolve around the notion
that women are just different from men.
i. Reflects the United States cultural notion that there exists a stark dichotomy
between men and women.
a. Gender: The social meaning ascribed to biological sex categories (male
ii. A more recent thread of argument insists that there are indeed gender
differences in leadership styles, but women’s leadership is more effective in
contemporary society.
a. This does not explain the leadership gap, instead making it much more
B. Contrary to popular belief, women were not found to lead in a more interpersonally
oriented and less task-oriented manner than men in organizational studies.
i. That being said, women lead in a more democratic, participative manner than
men.
ii. Additionally, women were devalued compared to men when they led in a
masculine manner, when they occupied a typically masculine leadership role, and
when the evaluators were men.
C. Women’s styles tend to be more transformational than men’s, and women tend to
engage in more contingent reward behaviors than men.
i. Although these are very effective styles, the devaluation of female leaders by
male subordinates has been shown to extend to female transformational leaders.
D. Women also show different leadership values:
i. They tend to emphasize social values that promote others’ welfare to a greater
extent than men.
a. This extends to CEOs and board members as well.
Northouse, Leadership 9e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
E. Men and women may be were equally effective leaders, overall, but there may be some
gender differences:
i. Women and men were more effective in leadership roles that were congruent
with their gender.
a. In highly masculinized roles, women are less effective.
ii. Emerging new research on leadership effectiveness that has come from analyzing
360 evaluations has shown that women are viewed as better leaders.
a. Some of the traits evaluated include taking initiative, developing others,
F. Social advocates often make a “business case” for increasing the representation of
women on corporate boards of directors by claiming that it would positively affect
financial outcomes for those organizations.
i. However, research suggests that the effect of gender diversity of boards on an
organization’s financial outcomes is often nonexistent or very small.
ii. Boards that are comprised of more women, however, can have other positive
consequences for organizations.
a. Decreased gender pay disparities among top executives when women
G. Another oft-cited barrier to women’s advancement is the presumed gender difference
in commitment to employment and motivation to lead.
i. Research does not support either of these assumptions.
ii. Women are less likely than men to promote themselves for leadership positions,
but more likely to assume informal leadership roles.
a. Often, they prefer terms such as facilitator or organizer instead of
leader.
Northouse, Leadership 9e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
iii. Women experience high social costs or backlash when they promote themselves
or are competent in positions of authority.
a. They are disincentivized from self-promotion and negotiation, which are
taken as socially unattractive and less hirable traits in women.
H. In sum, empirical research supports small differences in leadership style and
effectiveness between men and women.
I. Prejudice
i. Stereotyped expectation: Women take care, men take charge.
a. Gender stereotypes are pervasive, well documented, and highly
ii. Gender stereotypes are easily and automatically activated, and they often lead to
biased judgments.
a. Women of color also face racial or ethnic prejudice.
b. In leadership roles, gender stereotypes are particularly damaging for
iii. This prejudice against female leaders helps explain the numerous findings
indicating:
a. Less favorable attitudes toward female compared to male leaders.
iv. The selection of elite leaders is generally unstructured and thus allows for biased
decisions without accountability.
a. Decision makers are influenced by the stereotypes that disadvantage
v. Effects of prejudice on females in male-dominated groups:
a. Tokenization: Seen as a representative for all women.
Northouse, Leadership 9e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
e. Which reaction is detected depends on factors such as the leader’s self–
efficacy, the explicitness of the stereotype, the type of task, the group
vi. Recent research has begun to take an intersectionality approach.
a. Black women may experience bias in leadership positions differently
J. Navigating the Labyrinth
i. The number of women who successfully navigate the labyrinth is on the rise, due
in part to:
a. Changes in organizational culture (parity promoting in expectations and
ii. In structural role redefinition, a worker negotiates with both family and
colleagues to renegotiate role expectations both at work and at home.
a. This can ease the burden of domestic responsibilities or result in family-
iii. One approach to reducing the leadership gaps is to enhance women’s
negotiation power and restructure negotiations to their advantage:
a. Even the term negotiation is laden with gendered connotations, so one
iv. Women may also pursue their own business ventures.
v. Many of the impediments women face in the leadership domain stem from the
incongruity between the female gender role and the leadership role.
a. Women may increase their perceived warmth and their influence by
vi. In short, more women may emerge in elite leadership roles with:
a. Changes in workplace norms and developmental opportunities.
b. Greater gender equity in domestic responsibilities.
Northouse, Leadership 9e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
III. Strengths
A. A larger and more demographically diverse pool of candidates not only makes it easier
to find talented people, but also facilitates greater levels of organizational success.
i. This may also make organizations more ethical in the process of making them
more representative.
ii. Organizations may become more productive, innovative, and financially
successful.
a. Possessing a high level of collective intelligence.
B. Gender is integral to contemporary notions of effective leadership styles that have
morphed from a traditional masculine, autocratic style to the more feminine or
androgynous styles.
i. This allows people the opportunity to engage in the best leadership practices,
not just the gender-appropriate ones.
ii. Dispelling myths about gender and focusing on aspects of the gender barriers
that are difficult to see can both be of great help.
a. Gender biases now more often take the form of subtle and implicit
C. Understanding the many components of the labyrinth will give us the tools necessary to
combat this inequality from many perspectives.
i. An integrated approach with individual, interpersonal, organizational, and
societal measures is likeliest to be effective.
ii. Reducing the inequality also has clear organizational benefits.
IV. Criticisms
A. These topics can easily be subsumed under a more general topic of leadership and
diversity; this perspective involves an understanding of the impact of various
demographic characteristics on leadership, including—but not limited to—gender, race,
ethnicity, and sexual orientation.
i. However, there is little research into minority leaderships compared to the body
of gender-focused research.
a. Although some of the issues surrounding minorities in leadership may
B. Much gendered research is restricted to a Western context, and thus cannot be
generalized.
i. Further research must become cross-cultural to create a robust understanding.
ii. Research on gender and leadership focuses on decreasing the gender gap in
leadership positions, thereby lessening gender segregation at work.
Northouse, Leadership 9e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
a. However, the leadership gap cannot be closed without a concurrent
V. Application
A. There is evidence that the gender gap is starting to close, partially due to the use of
gender-oriented thinking and understanding.
i. Understanding the obstacles that make up the labyrinth and tactics to eradicate
the inequality will make it easier for women to reach top positions.
a. The required changes must occur at every level, from individual to
ii. In the absence of vanquishing bias entirely, women may adopt compensatory
behaviors to mitigate bias.
a. For example, adopting behaviors such as individualized consideration
B. Changes are also taking place at more macro-organizational and societal levels:
i. Improved organizational culture.
ii. Promotion of women’s career development.
iii. Mentoring opportunities for women.