More women at the top: The impact of gender roles and leadership style

Abstract

Opinions differ about the ability of women to function competently in leadership roles. Traditional prejudices against female leaders were blatant, as exemplified by President Richard Nixon’s words when explaining why he would not consider appointing a woman as Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, “I don’t think a woman should be in any [high-level] government job whatsoever … The reason why I do is mainly because they are erratic. And emotional. Men are erratic and emotional too, but the point is a woman is more likely to be” (Clymer 2001 :A16). Aggregate data echo Nixon’s preference for male leaders, although on a decreasing basis over the last decades. Table 1 displays data from a Gallup Poll question asking respondents in the United States if they would prefer a man or a woman as their boss. A substantial preference for men has been present among male and female respondents in all surveys from 1953 to 2000. Furthermore, this preference for male bosses appeared in all 22 of the nations that the Gallup organization surveyed in 1995 (Simmons 2001).

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