Leadership and gender

IN many areas of our society, men have a dominated attitude towards women particularly in leadership positions. We can see this domination in the business sector where not too many women are members of board of directors. Top corporate executives are also not women. There are some reasons why leadership styles of men and women are different.
Generally men are more confident in making financial decisions than women. So men can take more risks than women which is reflected in profit. Women's lower confidence in financial matters is reflected in the lower level of profitability.
Women usually have higher social sensitivity and they react from feeling. Men are more confident. They are more optimistic and react by actions. Women and men do not differ in their ability to perform operational tasks, but rather they have different perspectives to strategic decision making.
Women demonstrate a democratic and participative leadership style and men are more inclined to be more autocratic in their styles. Women are more likely to show transformational leadership whereas men are more likely to show transactional leadership. Women are less hierarchical, more co-operative and collaborative and are more willing to enhance their self-esteem.
To sum up, women in management positions tend to be more communicative and co-operative than their male counterparts. Men are more goal and task-oriented and less focused on relationship and process than women.

D.M. Sayful Islam
East West University
Department of Business Administration