Research project: What leadership means to women

The two researchers focused on the topic identity interference mainly, that is, on the degree to which being a woman and being a leader are perceived to interfere (e.g., “I feel that other managers do not take me seriously because I am a woman”). “This is important because the characteristics and behaviour typically expected from leaders and women differ dramatically,” says Laura Guillén. Gender stereotypes for women are “warm”, nurturing, caring, cooperative, selfless and supportive whereas men are often described as assertive, confident, direct or competitive according to the scientist. “These male characteristics are strongly ascribed to successful leaders, thereby revealing a think-leader-think-male stereotype and making the gender stereotypes particularly pernicious for women,” says Laura Guillén.

The study found that identity interference comes at a psychological cost for women leaders’ professional and private lives. As one of the participants said, “it is hard to live in a man's dominated logic for ten hours each day, and then go home/leave the office and be feminine, caring, sweet, well coiffed, in a good mood... It really is very hard.” According to the researchers this identity interference of women leaders is associated with lower pleasure associated with the act of leading, higher work-related stress, and less positive life satisfaction.

Despite the negative affect associated with identity interference, the duty-related motivation to lead was surprisingly high amongst the women leaders. The study found that women who reported higher identity interference also scored higher on the measure of the sense of duty to lead. “One possible explanation of this result is that women might think of leadership roles as not only a mean to achieve their individual goals, but also as a mean to alter the collective status quo and to facilitate career advancement for future generations of women,” explains Laura Guillén.

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