Leadership in women

This dissertation examines some of the challenges women face in the public sector in New York City. Workplace communal and agentic attributes and transactional and transformational leadership provided the theoretical frameworks through which women are viewed when they ascend to executive or managerial positions in city agencies. Communal and agentic attributes delve into feminine and masculine roles, the leadership challenge and biases toward women, and the preference in leadership style for women and men.
Scholars organize these attributes to help us understand gender stereotypes whereby men are described as independent, assertive, and initiating, while women are described as caring, emotionally expressive, and responsive to others. Because leadership has been associated with men for centuries, women leaders’ evaluations create incongruencies. Perceived social norms are activated in people’s minds about women not conforming to their gender role and communal attributes and the expectations of what a leader should be. Therefore, the perceived dissimilarity creates a dilemma and potential for prejudice against women leaders. Some policies, non-discriminatory laws, and different administrations changed some of those perceptions and enabled women to lead numerous city agencies in New York City. Nevertheless, challenges remain.

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to explore the selfdevelopment
of women executives of philanthropic organizations to determine
their approaches to learning for leading. Women occupy 1.4% to 53% of the
executive positions in the U.S. depending on the sector, yet little is known about
their learning needs and strategies. The research questions asked how these
women executives learned to develop successfully in their positions and what
informal learning strategies they used. This study explored the perspectives of 22
women executives of philanthropic organizations in South Florida and Western
Washington. The foundations represented by the participants varied widely in
size, purpose, and structure. The study yields evidence that learning and leading are inextricably
connected. There is also evidence that learning needs and learning strategies
change over the course of one's career. They use a variety of learning resources
including mentors, workshops, and resources such as books, journals and the
internet. Early strategies include training and mentoring. Later strategies refine
conceptual skills through conversations with colleagues. Discussion includes
implications for executive development programs and recommendations for
practice and further research.