IJMB Journal – Abstracts
International Journal of Management and Business
IJMB Volume X, Issue 1
Women as Leaders:
The More Things Change, the More It’s the Same Thing
Steven H. Appelbaum, Ph.D.1*, Vanessa D’Antico, MBA2, Christina Daoussis, MBA3
1*Professor of Management, 2,3Graduate Students
John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Email: steven.appelbaum@concordia.ca, vanessadantico@gmail.com, christina.daoussis@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
An ongoing challenge that women face in the business world is their place as leaders. Despite the progress that has been made in this regard, there still remains a substantial gender gap when it comes to obtaining high level executive roles. The purpose of this literature review is to examine the relationship between leadership and gender in the western world, and take that analysis a step further than simply looking at the leadership differences between men and women. This review aims to answer the following questions: First, do women leaders promote positive changes and outcomes in working environments? And if so, more so than men? Second, what are the barriers preventing women from being on the same level as their male counterparts when it comes to filling leadership positions? And third, what effect does culture and context have on gender and leadership? Our findings show that women are not as present in the executive suite as men, due to a number of barriers such as gender stereotypes, skewed evaluations and motherhood. In general, much of the literature has demonstrated that women’s leadership characteristics are shown to be effective and it seems that the existence of both male and female traditional leadership qualities in a working environment is what allows both genders to thrive. Culture and context continue to play a key role in establishing and influencing perceptions regarding gender and leadership. The results of this research have made clear is that gender biases still exist in our society and play an enormous role in how leaders are brought into power.
Keywords: Change, women leaders, transformational leadership, gender gap.
Click for full manuscript (PDF) or back to Volume 10-1, Table of Content.