Women and Leadership

Ms .Samohita Das & Dr Sangeetha Madhu

Samohita Das

According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2023, based on economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment, it will take 149 years to close the global gender gap in South Asian countries.

Future is Female

“Even in 2023, women still face challenges to their authority and success that are greater than those faced by their male counterparts.” (Eagley)

GETTING A SEAT THE TABLE IS NOT ENOUGH (Chin, 2016). Across the world, women are appreciated by society in supportive and emotional roles but very rarely in leadership roles (Makhija, 2023).

Decades of studies on women leadership has shown result of empowerment and benefits- increased productivity, collaboration, organizational dedication, and improved fairness (Novotney, 2023).

? Demonstration of transformational leadership styles (Eagley, 1922)

? Equally or more competent to men (Eagley, 2020)

o Communion: compassion, sensitivity

o Agency: ambition, aggression

o Competence: intelligence, creativity

? Improves group’s collective intelligence (Woolley, 2010)

o Greater equality in conversational turn-taking

o Making the best use of knowledge and skills of members

o Perceivers anticipate a fairer treatment (Joshi, 2022)

? In terms of leadership traits, women rule- honesty, intelligence, hard-working, ambitious, compassionate, outgoing, and creative (Pew Research Center, 2008)

? Mitigating deep-rooted stereotypes related to language (Lawson et al., 2022)

Despite these outcomes, companies led by women comprise only 10% of the Fortune 500 companies (Novotney, 2023). They also experience lesser psychological safety.

Science points towards a series of steps that organizations and individuals can initiate for reducing the gender gap (Novotney, 2023).

? Identifying potential leaders at an early stage of career through assignments, feedback, mentoring and coaching; enabling them to form professional network and to exhibit the skill of responsibility.

? Arranging sponsorship for focused mentoring to foster higher levels of employee engagement, retention, and knowledge sharing.

? Supporting women in joining women-led professional organizations to help them hone their leadership abilities, network with other women, work and observe women leaders directly, receive support and gain a more expansive perspective on leadership (Steele, Moake, Medina-Craven, 2023).

? Developing allyship where men can also attend to and take initiative for gender equality, breaking the glass ceiling and serve as change agents (Mattingly et al., 2018).

Everyone wins with more women at leadership positions (Amar, 2023).

? Diversified workforce, from gender to culture to age to race, inspires new ideas and inspires innovation- open environment, an accountable communication, and execution.

? Women provide valuable consumer insight as they represent a significant proportion of economic force.

? Soft skills and emotional intelligence are a competitive advantage for women in business- emotional self-awareness, conflict management, flexibility and teamwork.

Empowerment of women leaders will help in making them feel a sense of purpose within their organization at every step. This in turn can result in a domino effect, leading to better teams, better company, and overall a better ecosystem.

Women without Borders

A movement called ‘Woman Movement’ came up during the mid-19th century, in response to women striving to improve their status and usefulness in society (Cruea, 2005). They aimed to initiate measures for:

? Charitable benevolence

? Temperance

? Social welfare

? Civic rights

? Social freedom

? Higher education

? Remunerative occupation

‘Border-less’ perspective acknowledges going beyond the fault lines, conflicts, differences, fears, and containment that borders represent. It represents solidarity- mutuality, accountability, and recognition of common interests among the diverse communities. Emerging intellectual themes (Mohanty, 2003):

? politics of difference and the challenges of solidarity

? demystification of the workings of power and strategies of resistance at grassroots levels

? decolonizing and politicizing of knowledge by rethinking self and community through the practice of education

? building of ethics across cultural, sexual, national, class, and racial borders

? theorizing and practicing anti-capitalist and democratic critique in education through collective struggle in education

UN Women (2021) lays down 7 ways to change the world- equal rights and opportunities:

1. End gender-based violence

2. Guarantee economic justice and rights

3. Ensure bodily autonomy and sexual and reproductive health and rights

4. Feminist action for climate change

5. Foster technology and innovation for gender equality

6. Invest in feminist movements and leadership

7. Put women in the heart and at the helm of peace, security, and humanitarian action

Oonagh McPhillips Diane Shoemaker

Peace & Harmony

“When women are included in peace processes, there is a 35% increase in the probability of an agreement lasting at least 15 years longer. Why? Because male negotiators (often previous combatants) are primarily concerned with territory, resources and positions of power, while women bring to the table the concerns of orphans, the injured, the bereaved and the traumatized. When these issues are addressed, the cycle of violence can be more effectively interrupted and turned around.” (Elworthy, 2020)

Peace and harmony are relationship variables rather than traits that are cardinal for living and growth. They are interconnected for progress and prosperity of mankind. They represent the height of wisdom that determines breadth of vision, depth of exploration, the extent of progress, and the limit of transcendence (Ashu, 2020).

Peace can be categorized into two dimensions. Imposed peace is based on domination, power, imposition and enforcement. Consensual peace is based on efforts to establish mutual cooperation, promoting equal interaction in terms of competency, attitude, and values, and build positive relationship. Essential ingredients for peace (Ashu, 2020):

? Freedom

? Human rights

? Justice

? Conflict resolution

? Non-violent action

? Community building

? Democratization of authority

Harmony stands on three mutually supporting pillars:

? Peace and security

? Sustainable and inclusive development

? Human rights and the rule of law

Professor Joyce O'Connor Lourda Geoghegan

Communities of Care

"Women work together in some of the most difficult and dangerous places in the world to try to build lasting peace for themselves and their families. A tough job is made tougher by a lack of support. The money is there in the conflict pool, but is not being dedicated to those grassroots women's groups who are rebuilding communities without basic supplies and support." (Ballard, 2012)

In order to move towards the realization of peace and harmony across the society, an integration of global cultures at in-depth level is required (Ashu, 2020):

? Integration of overall diversity and regional diversity

? Integration of consensus thinking and diversity modes

? Integration of absorption value and contribution value

Erin Hillman Eisenhower Fellowships Rajshree Pathy Raman Madhok