The Call to Lead: A Future Where Women Stand

How Women are Better Leaders than Men

A Trickle of Thought – 29
By Rose Marie Juan-austin

Leadership shall never

Allow a dark soul to enter
Its kingdom.
A tinge of darkness,
Could create a spell
And wrap the Kingdom
With nightmares,
Leading to its death.

What makes an outstanding leader? In the words of Adena Friedman: “Empowering those around you to
be heard and valued makes the difference between a leader who simply instructs and one who inspires.”

First, women are better leaders than men because they are transformational leaders as they seek to develop
themselves and others around them. This information was taken from a study conducted by Dr. Alice Eagly.
According to various reports, such as the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs report, leaders should
encompass the ability to have emotional intelligence, empathy, listening skills, coaching, mentoring, and
innovation/creativity. The same report has shown that women are better at using these skills than men.
Between March and June of 2019, the Extraordinary Leader 360-degree evaluation conducted by SSBM
was used to evaluate the leadership performance of 454 men and 366 women. They discovered that women
were assessed much more favorably than men, which was in line with their pre-pandemic research.

The gender discrepancy in the epidemic is significantly wider than previously observed, which may suggest
that women perform better under pressure. This is further solidified by a study from the University of
Southern California. According to this, men and women make judgments similarly under normal
circumstances, but in stressful situations, males prefer to act riskier, which frequently has an adverse effect
and results in expensive outcomes. For men and women, stress affects people differently, both physically
and psychologically.

Since it is crucial for both parties (the leader and their members) to have respect, trust, and understanding
for one another, a leader must be open and honest with their subordinates. The gender differences in lying
were examined in 380 experiments for a meta-analysis on honesty (Geriach et al., 2019). Men were found
to be 4% more dishonest than women in this study. I am quite certain that no one wishes to be deceived,
especially by authority figures who we are expected to trust. In the wise words of German Philosopher
Friedrich Nietzsche: “I’m not upset that you lied to me. I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.”

Despite this, men are elected to have leadership positions over women. Therefore, it is only natural to ask
why women are still underrepresented among leaders if they have more leadership capacity. The obvious
reason for this is that we do not truly choose leaders based on their true potential, talent, or competence. If
we did, we would not only have more female leaders but also more female leaders overall. And if we did,
average leadership performance would not be as subpar as it is right now. The unsettling reality is that
sexism is detrimental to oneself, whereas feminism is a predisposition driven by data. Because of this, the
world’s GDP is currently $12 trillion lower than it would be if we made progress toward gender equality,
according to McKinsey. Furthermore, researchers have found that men are more assertive during meetings
and discussions due to them being outspoken about their ideas. This in turn makes people believe in their
capabilities. However, when there is at least more than one interaction and as time goes on, the gender gap
is weakened and the capabilities of women can be seen, such as being empathetic and collaborative. Because
of this, people trust them more during difficult times.

One might argue men are better than women when it comes to leading a country. Although this is because
women’s potential to lead has been dismissed and disregarded due to sexism, ignorance, and chauvinism.
If we look at countries such as Finland, New Zealand, and such, we begin to notice how they gird themselves
to serve and protect against threats like the Coronavirus. An analysis of 194 countries, published by the
Centre for Economic Policy and the World Economic Forum suggests countries led by women performed
better. Statistics show Covid-19 deaths in countries led by women were lower than those led by men.
Additionally, in an analysis done by Caroline Mansour shows that women-led countries on average had
lower rates of cases and deaths. This reveals how women are just as competent as men.

In conclusion, women have been overlooked, denied, and deprived of the privilege to be seen as
competent figures to govern over higher positions as they are merely regulated to simple work settings
such as the classroom, group activities, etc. People are incredulous to believe women are habile at being
administrative and executive. Hopefully, young girls who aspire to inspire and guide others toward a
brighter future can one day attain their dreams and overcome the challenges that women face daily in the
pursuit for equality.

Members: Group 4
Abenoja, Trisha
Laguitao, Charice
Buenaventura, Mark
Medina, Earl
Parchamento, Nathaniel
Victorino, Francis