Paper: Feminine Leadership: Transcending Boundaries of
Gender
Abstract
In a world that is characterized by volatility, complexity,
uncertainty and ambiguity, the traditional definitions of leadership are
increasingly being challenged. In the field of management (whether it is the
corporate sector, Government or the not for profit sector), the mantra “Think
Manager, Think Male” has been deeply ingrained during the last five decades. Yet,
in recent years there has been growing recognition that “feminine “leadership
characteristics could well be the key differentiator for organizations. In
their book The Athena
Doctrine, the authors Gerzema and
D’Antonio, asked half their respondents to categorize 125 human characteristics
as “feminine”, “masculine” and “neither”. The other half were asked to
categorize the same characteristics as “leadership competencies”. The
correlated characteristics for a modern leader contained several feminine
characteristics like flexible, intuitive, collaborative, plans for the future
and expressive. In a global interconnected world, the feminine leadership
qualities play a critical role in sustainability and success. Therefore,
grooming both men and women in such a context to develop the feminine qualities
requires both personal and organizational effort. The building block of the
leadership development process is the acknowledgement and
negotiation with the biases that confront men and women in society. It will
also require a reflective process on the institutional frame works that hinder
the cultivation, development and growth of feminine leadership. Understanding and engaging with the feminine
leadership characteristics is more likely to yield decisions which are morally
strong, ethically sophisticated and finally, are likely to result in a
sustainable and holistic development of the society.
Vasanthi Srinivasan, Professor of Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources Management at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, is a member of the India Leadership Team of Globethics.net and is also on the Board of Directors of “Enable India” and “Fourth Wave Foundation”. She was the ICCR Chair Professor of Corporate Responsibility and Governance at the HHL School of Management, Leipzig, Germany (2012-2013) and Chairperson at the Centre for Corporate Governance and Citizenship at Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (2010-2015). She was a British Council Visiting Scholar at the International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility at the Nottingham University Business School. Her areas of interest are women in management and Boards, generational diversity, Ethics teaching in business schools and ethics and CSR in healthcare.
