Questioning the notion of feminine leadership
(2000) In Gender, Work and Organization 7(3). p.144-157- Abstract
- 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... (More)
- 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. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/959089fd-617c-4fd6-891e-9c2217746049
- author
- Alvesson, Mats LU and Billing, Yvonne D.
- organization
- publishing date
- 2000
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Gender, Work and Organization
- volume
- 7
- issue
- 3
- pages
- 144 - 157
- publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:0033936941
- ISSN
- 1468-0432
- DOI
- 10.1111/1468-0432.00103
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 959089fd-617c-4fd6-891e-9c2217746049
- date added to LUP
- 2016-06-29 09:42:23
- date last changed
- 2022-04-24 08:22:33
@article{959089fd-617c-4fd6-891e-9c2217746049,
abstract = {{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.}},
author = {{Alvesson, Mats and Billing, Yvonne D.}},
issn = {{1468-0432}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{3}},
pages = {{144--157}},
publisher = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
series = {{Gender, Work and Organization}},
title = {{Questioning the notion of feminine leadership}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-0432.00103}},
doi = {{10.1111/1468-0432.00103}},
volume = {{7}},
year = {{2000}},
}