Do Women Have What It Takes to Lead?
Study shows women are just as effective leaders as men

Winter 2004, Volume 26, Number 1

Alice Eagly

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 46 percent of all managers and administrators were women in 2003, but less than 2 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs were. Why is that?

A unique study, conducted by psychologist and IPR Faculty Fellow Alice Eagly, Mary Johannesen-Schmidt of Northwestern, and Marloes van Engen of Tilburg University in the Netherlands, seeks some answers to this question. Specifically, these researchers wondered, “Do men and women lead in the same ways? If not, are there any aspects of women’s managerial styles that would account for their underrepresentation in the most powerful leadership roles?”

In their project “Transformational, Transactional, and Laissez-Faire Leadership Styles: A Meta-Analysis Comparing Women and Men,” Eagly and her colleagues analyzed 45 published and unpublished studies on leaders between 1985 and 2000 to arrive at the following answer: Overall, this meta-analysis shows little difference between the sexes in how they manage, but it does give women a small edge. (A meta-analysis statistically analyzes the results of multiple studies and combines the findings.) “We found women were slightly more likely than men to have a ‘transformational’ leadership style, which organizational researchers have found is especially effective in today’s work environment,” Eagly said. She added that women also manifest one very positive aspect of transactional leadership—rewarding good performance. Research has shown both a transformational and a rewarding style enhance leaders’ effectiveness.

On the other hand, their study found men were slightly more likely than women to manifest a negative side of transactional leadership—pointing out their subordinates’ failings. Men were also more likely to be laissez-faire leaders. “These more ‘male-typical’ aspects of leadership style do not ordinarily make for better leaders,” she said.

One reason, the authors surmised, women might manifest both a transformational and a rewarding leadership style could pertain to gender roles. Since women are probably more caring and nurturing in their relationships, such as with children, this might lead them to favor the more communal aspects of transformational leadership. Another—more unfortunate—reason might simply have to do with prejudice. “Those skeptical of women leaders might be turned off by a style that is ‘too masculine,’ but would be more accepting of those women who lead like teachers rather than tough, controlling bosses,” Eagly said. Women also might be contending with a glass-ceiling effect: They might have to be better leaders than their male counterparts even to be considered candidates for especially powerful roles.

Before concluding that women always make better leaders, one should heed Eagly’s reminder that the study is based on group averages. Within each sex, leadership styles can vary considerably, so one can find both great—and not so great—male and female leaders. Also, some women exhibit more “masculine” leadership styles, just as some men exhibit more “feminine” ones.

Because transformational characteristics seem to be the hallmark of more effective leaders in today’s fast-changing environments, one would think companies would prize these characteristics. Thus one should see more women at the top. In fact, there are many more women in powerful positions than in earlier decades, even though “there is still much research that shows prejudice against women leaders,” Eagly pointed out. Most industrialized nations have experienced large increases in women occupying managerial positions, even at higher levels. For example, in the U.S. the percentage of women university and college presidents more than doubled from 1986 to 2001, rising from 10 to 21 percent. Given the evidence that Eagly’s study has uncovered, this rise is justified in terms of women’s leadership competence. “If men were better bosses than women, they should have substantially outperformed women in this meta-analysis,” she declared.

Fortune 500 boards, are you listening?

Eagly, A. H., Johannesen-Schmidt, M. C., and van Engen, M. (2003). “Transformational, Transactional, and Laissez-Faire Leadership Styles: A Meta-Analysis Comparing Women and Men.” Psychological Bulletin, 95, 569-591.