A new era: Women and leadership

After years of analysing what makes leaders most effective, management gurus have figured out how to boost the odds of hiring a great executive: Hire a female (Sharpe, 2002, in Business Week). Over the years, there has been a dramatic shift of women’s roles in leadership. Women have always had the capacity and desire for leadership; however, due to political, economical and societal restrictions, they were unable to advance in leadership positions. In 1972, women held 18% of administrative positions in the United States; and by 2002, these positions increased to 46% (US Bureau of Labour Statistics, 1982, 2002). Recent results show that traditional gender gaps in competitiveness have sharply decreased. Recently, a gender comparison of emotional intelligence revealed a significant difference in favour of females by (p〈.05). Changes will continue in leadership regardless of gender and societal stereotypes. Future interest will undoubtedly follow the journey in which women advance in leadership roles.