Background on Women & Leadership

In the U.S.St. Catherine University Global Women’s

Leadership Convening: Women in Public LifeJuly 13-20, 2011

1960’s: First tracking of women in leadership roles in the U.S.

1970’s: Women hold 17% of U.S. professional and managerial positions

2010: Women represent 50% of all professional and managerial positions and small business owners in the U.S.

Women Rapidly Entered Leadership

• Only 15.7% of corporate officers are women in the U.S.

• Only 8 women CEOs in the Fortune 500• Tracking women in top leadership only

began in 1995

However, the numbers drop significantly at the highest levels of leadership:

An inadequate number of women in the “pipeline” is no longer seen as the cause of these low numbers.

If not this, what is the cause?

• In a study comparing men and women’s leadership style, women score higher in transformational leadership• Which produces the most positive leadership

outcomes • And results in advancement for men,

• Yet, it is less likely to result in career advancement for women

What about women’s leadership style?

• They have to outperform men to get the same rewards• They do not receive comparable salaries• They do not perceive that, all things being equal, a

women will be promoted over a man• They cite barriers to advancement that include exclusion

from formal networks, stereotyping and lack of accountability by leaders to promote women

• Only 30% believe they have the same opportunities as men

• 41% of current pay gap between men and women is “unexplainable”

Women leaders cite:

• Women’s continued primary responsibility for household and child rearing place added burdens that contribute to stress and burn-out.

• Women feel isolated in their work as leaders.• Many women leaders do not identify themselves

as leaders regardless of their many accomplishments.

• Women have few opportunities to collectively explore assumptions about leadership and gender.

What else is contributing?

• Women are caught in gender defined images of leadership:• They become “one of the boys” and risk violating

gender expectations for women.• They use transformational leadership approaches

consistent with gender norms for women and do not get seen as leaders.

• They think their lack of recognition is due to their own performance; they work to outperform everyone else, and many experience burn-out as a result.

The “Double Bind” for women leaders

How Three Waves of Feminism Have Impacted Women’s

Leadership

Women have the same capability to lead as men; women need access to the same leadership opportunities as men.

Wave

One

Women lead differently than men and women’s leadership style needs to be recognized as effective leadership.

Wave

TwoWomen are different from each other and our differences are as important as the fact that we are women; women leaders need to be treated as individuals.

Wave

Three

Three Waves of FeminismWomen’s Suffrage

Women’s Voice

Women’s Differentiation

All three waves continue to impact women in leadership

simultaneouslyAnd there is an emerging fourth

wave…

Wave

Four

Fourth Wave

Women ‘s Interconnectedness

Women (and men) recognize ourselves as multi-dimensional, support our individual differences, our equality, and our Interdependence, while focusing our efforts,together, on the wider global issues we face.