Chapter 5: Leading Women: Unique Challenges and Suggestions for Moving Forward

The number of women graduating from college and entering the workforce continues to rise, and while research has examined women as leaders, much less attention has been given to leading women. In this chapter, we aim to start a conversation that looks to flip the conventional leadership discourse, by suggesting that an important component of effective leadership is understanding how to lead women. It is through this lens that we emphasize the importance of recognizing some of the differences and adaptations that leaders must make to effectively lead women. Specifically, we discuss some of the unique challenges faced by women employees, with an eye toward uncovering ways in which traditional leadership paradigms might need to shift in order to meet the needs of an increasingly heterogeneous workforce. We note, too, that while our primary focus is on women employees, some of these challenges parallel those experienced by racial-ethnic minority employees; thus, throughout the chapter we refer to the research on both groups. At the end of each section we offer a set of recommendations grounded in research and current events that we hope will add to the academic/practitioner conversation on how to more effectively lead women.