There have been several recent articles extolling the virtues of women and fantasizing about how great the world would be if only we replaced male leaders with women.
In a scathing piece entitled A Nope for Pope, acid-tongued New York Times op-ed columnist Maureen Dowd suggests replacing the Pope with a nun, thus producing a “Nope.”
A Washington Post article claims that the recent U.S. health care bill passed only because a woman (Nancy Pelosi) is now in a strong position of leadership as Speaker of the House.
And recently, New York Magazine asked What If Women Ran Wall Street?
It’s tempting to believe that female power would fix all our problems, from the Catholic Church to Wall Street, but in reality good leadership has nothing to do with gender. It’s not about women being better leaders than men, or visa versa, and it’s not helpful when the media frames it in this way.
What we need at the top of organizations is balanced leadership. Instead of 80-90% of organizations being led by men, we need leadership to be shared equally between men and women so that we have a much larger pool of talent from which to draw, and so that we benefit from diverse thinking and behavior.
I am passionately in favor of a world where men and women work together to lead more effectively. But glorifying women leaders and demonizing males will not get us there. What do you think?
7 Comments
Interesting post, Lynn. The concept of women actually LEADING industries in droves is so foreign to us that I think it makes provocative news to imagine it! As more research supports that women’s leadership style is more participative and transformational than men, I understand why people are asking questions like, “What if women had run wall street for the last 10 years? How different would our current situation be?” I think these questions are worth posing and reflecting on, but I agree that making men appear inferior is less than helpful in moving the issue forward. Keep up the great work!
Selena Rezvani, Author, The Next Generation of Women Leaders (www.nextgenwomen.com)
Hi Selena
Good to make contact with a fellow author who is working in the same field. I agree that it’s fun to daydream about “what if women were in charge” but the future hopefully lies in balanced leadership, drawing on the strengths of a much more diverse leadership than we have at the moment. Just out of interest, where are you based? It would be great to have more conversation given we both seem to be working towards similar ends.
I totally agree with you.
Just for the record, and for the gazillionth time: being a feminist (or at least the kind I am), means being for women, not against men.
I also think you should open up your text to create more paragraphs so it’s more inviting and readable to visitors
. Doing so will also make your posts look longer, airier and juicier.
Just ANOTHER idea… You know how I’m full of them. Along with being full of other stuff
I read each of these articles in full (including the 5-part piece from New York magazine). They are all interesting. Hardly anyone can parse a phrase as well as Maureen Dowd. I wouldn’t even try….
The problem here is that lots of us in the baby boomer generation worked our buns off trying to get equality in the workplace and in the world. We were demonized, marginalized, pandered to, and just plain written off as “ball busters.”
I think we would all like to live in a world where men and women work together to lead more effectively. Entire books have been written about this subject. The most recent, “Wings and Dreams; 4 Elements of a New Feminism” from SophiaSerius Publishing argues that any meaningful discussion of feminism today must include dialogue with men.
The problem, as I see it, is not whether we want such a world but whether men will allow such a world. And that’s the sad truth. If we cannot obtain equality in a country such as America, how can we hope to obtain equality in cultures that do not even allow women to own land, drive a car, or show their face? It’s hard to all stand together, holding hands and singing “Kum Ba Yah” when the person you are standing next to isn’t allowed to even show her hand, let alone clasp another in friendship.
It’s a problem that goes so far beyond earning an equitable wage……
For me Liberation is not about having a cut throat competition with the opposite sex, its about the freedom to think and execute our thoughts and ideas, its about the importance that is attached to our decision, its about approving the fact that we are capable to handling task and duties and will carry and implement all of it with equal or better fitment. My mother is an illiterate lady from a small village and yet she has managed to raise 6 children single handedly all by her self. The fact that she is respected for her behavior, is an active member in decision making process and is taken seriously at every step of important decisions makes her a Liberated lady!!!
“I am passionately in favor of a world where men and women work together to lead more effectively. But glorifying women leaders and demonizing males will not get us there. What do you think?”
Honestly speaking Lynn, I’m not sure I agree with your viewpoint. I’m a guy, but now through this network I’m much more connected to women (with our Board of Advisors being nothing but women who scrutinize everything I do…) I have to say that the style of managing and leading I see in women is far more motivating than that typically used by men. Men use intimidation as a rule. Men are far more competitive…. Not that women leaders are perfect, but there is a distinct difference. Women raise families, and get people started in life. Men are busy hunting. Women nurture people, men kill their competitors and bring home the bacon.
In an ideal world, a good balance would be best, for sure, but I think other than the needs for being politically correct, there’s a lot of “glorification” that needs to take place before we find a good balance.
There is a good new article in Forbes Women that speaks well to this subject (of course,I say speaks well because I agree with the writers views)
See Should Women Be Morally Superior at http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/14/wall-street-crisis-lehman-brothers-gender-forbes-woman-leadership-senior-management-jobs_2.html