Mats Alvesson
Professor
Questioning the notion of feminine leadership
Author
Summary, in English
Traditionally, leadership has been equated with masculinity. Managerial jobs, at least in business and on senior levels, have been defined as a matter of instrumentality, autonomy, result-orientation, etc. something which is not particularly much in line with what is broadly assumed to be typical for females. Today, however, there seems to be a broad interest in leadership being more participatory, non-hierarchical, flexible and group-oriented. These new ideas on leadership are often seen by students of gender as indicating a feminine orientation. This article argues that it is necessary to critically discuss the whole idea of gender labelling leadership as masculine or feminine and suggests that we should be very careful and potentially aware of the unfortunate consequences when we use gender labels. Constructing leadership as feminine may be of some value as a contrast to conventional ideas on leadership and management but may also create a misleading impression of women's orientation to leadership as well as reproducing stereotypes and the traditional gender division of labour.
Department/s
- Department of Business Administration
Publishing year
2000
Language
English
Pages
144-157
Publication/Series
Gender, Work and Organization
Volume
7
Issue
3
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
Topic
- Business Administration
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1468-0432