To anyone who has ever worked in his or her life, boss is a tricky word. Like it or not, we all have to deal with them at some point or another. In that case, what does it mean to have a female boss? Or does is mean anything at all?
A commonly voiced opinion is that women are tougher leaders than men, coming across as needlessly unfriendly and aggressive. This is thought by subordinates of both genders across nations. Now this should automatically imply that the “fairer sex” does not make fairer bosses. But it doesn’t. In fact, studies demonstrate exactly the opposite.
A Harvard acclaimed study attempted to dig into the truth of the matter by conducting a comparative survey based on 16 leadership competencies. The results were astonishing to say the least. Not only do women outstrip men in the overall score, they perform better on 12 of the 16 metrics used. Some of these 12 parameters such as encouraging development have always been thought of as female forte. Others however, are areas traditionally thought of as the domain of male leaders. Clearly something about our perception is not quite right, and we need to change that.
Neither is this study a sole aberration of startling evidence. There are numerous such studies depicting similar results across different sectors and leadership roles. An example is a report by the research organization Catalyst, which states that firms with women on their boards outperform others by achieving a 42% higher return on sales, 53% higher return on equity and 66% higher return on invested capital. And yet we find a pitifully low number of female leaders, and an abundance of snarky comments about them. What is going wrong?
It is a known fact that most of the working population prefers a male boss, even in highly developed nations like America and UK. Shockingly, this is true for not just older workers, but new-age employees too. And the reason for this can be summarized in a simple word i.e. stereotypes. Female bosses are constantly viewed as having ruthless attitudes towards their subordinates. The behavior that would be lauded as assertive in a male leader is disparaged as controlling in a female boss. This P&G ad demonstrates how preconceived notions lead people into believing the worst of every action and word that a female boss might exhibit.
So how can we change this? Firstly, we have to understand why this transformation is essential. It is obvious that women bring more to the table that just a label of “diversity”. Having female leaders can be a vital matter in determining the success of organizations worldwide. And once we understand this crucial piece of information and remove our biases, we would automatically pioneer the change that needs to happen. It is not something that will happen overnight. We also need to understand that it is not someone else’s problem. It is your problem, and mine too. So let’s give our female bosses a chance. Just a single chance to prove our perceptions wrong.
A commonly voiced opinion is that women are tougher leaders than men, coming across as needlessly unfriendly and aggressive. This is thought by subordinates of both genders across nations. Now this should automatically imply that the “fairer sex” does not make fairer bosses. But it doesn’t. In fact, studies demonstrate exactly the opposite.
A Harvard acclaimed study attempted to dig into the truth of the matter by conducting a comparative survey based on 16 leadership competencies. The results were astonishing to say the least. Not only do women outstrip men in the overall score, they perform better on 12 of the 16 metrics used. Some of these 12 parameters such as encouraging development have always been thought of as female forte. Others however, are areas traditionally thought of as the domain of male leaders. Clearly something about our perception is not quite right, and we need to change that.
Neither is this study a sole aberration of startling evidence. There are numerous such studies depicting similar results across different sectors and leadership roles. An example is a report by the research organization Catalyst, which states that firms with women on their boards outperform others by achieving a 42% higher return on sales, 53% higher return on equity and 66% higher return on invested capital. And yet we find a pitifully low number of female leaders, and an abundance of snarky comments about them. What is going wrong?
It is a known fact that most of the working population prefers a male boss, even in highly developed nations like America and UK. Shockingly, this is true for not just older workers, but new-age employees too. And the reason for this can be summarized in a simple word i.e. stereotypes. Female bosses are constantly viewed as having ruthless attitudes towards their subordinates. The behavior that would be lauded as assertive in a male leader is disparaged as controlling in a female boss. This P&G ad demonstrates how preconceived notions lead people into believing the worst of every action and word that a female boss might exhibit.
So how can we change this? Firstly, we have to understand why this transformation is essential. It is obvious that women bring more to the table that just a label of “diversity”. Having female leaders can be a vital matter in determining the success of organizations worldwide. And once we understand this crucial piece of information and remove our biases, we would automatically pioneer the change that needs to happen. It is not something that will happen overnight. We also need to understand that it is not someone else’s problem. It is your problem, and mine too. So let’s give our female bosses a chance. Just a single chance to prove our perceptions wrong.