Labyrinth of Women Leaders: Manifestations& Ramifications

Leadership is an activity that is performed by individuals in an organizational or societal setting. It is a function that can make unique contributions to every sphere of human activity. It is further claimed to be a process, a style or an act of different traits resulting in optimum performance and is concurrent, collective, collaborative and compassionate in nature. Now the question is - Can all this be attributed to a person's gender alone? In short, can it be claimed that leadership establishes its credential by gender and gender alone.

Leaders provide vision and meaning to an organization that embody the ideals to strive for excellence in all that is done in the work sphere. Traditional scholars view leaders as alike and also as being genderless. If this was the true description of leaders, why then are women unable to accede to leadership positions in greater numbers? Are men better administrators and leaders than women, simply because they are male? Interestingly, a plethora of research conducted on the said theme does not support this assumption.

The present study delves into all aspects of women leadership ranging from the leadership, negotiating and communication styles of women to how their presence in board rooms more often than not, spells firm profitability. The study also deliberates on the various barriers encountered by women to reach leadership positions and the bias that is prevalent towards them at work in particular and society in general. Finally, interesting insights and observations give the big picture on the subject.

The study is based on secondary data and utilizes the information available in Books, Journals, Magazines, Reports and Websites. The three sixty degree angle is utilized to obtain a multiple perspective on the subject and all inferences drawn are based on the secondary data. This study is a precursor for the empirical investigation that is called for in order to arrive at concrete findings