Can A Woman Really Lead?

 Women in leadership has become a common topic when within businesses and professional settings. It seems to be more noticeable these days when there are more women in leadership than there are men. It is so common, that it is believed to be socially accepted at this point. Women have taken on more leadership roles and are preparing themselves early to begin leading. Mothers and fathers are preparing their daughters in their school age years to be leaders. They are empowering their daughters and affirming their abilities to be able to lead in any setting that their hearts will desire.

In my church, the senior Pastor and Apostle is a woman. At the organization that I work for, the center’s Executive Director and Assistant Executive Directors are women. As the Program Director over the organization’s Child Caring Institutions (group homes), I too am a woman. Women have proven that we are more than capable of leading in senior or high ranking positions.

As I began to advance in my career, I did not find that it was difficult to do so. There was not much competition and there was not any stigma within the organization. I do not believe that the organization set out to hire or purposely promote women; however, for some reason, there are majority women preparing themselves for leadership. This is not to say that men do not prepare themselves, but the men in the organization did not seem to care to work as hard for promotion or advancement as the women did. I am lead to believe that within my organization, men are comfortable or complacent with where they are.

I believe that women are equally as capable of leading as men are. They are not better leaders, but are equivalent in their abilities to lead. Women no longer have to fight for a spot in leadership, and they are not seen as “less than” when compared to men in leadership. When allowed to earn their spot in the leadership spotlight, women seem to have a better skill of empowering or influencing their subordinates than men do. For example, most women are more empathetic and understanding of individuals, making them more easy to talk to. Their subordinates feel that they are “cared about” and are approached with personal conversations because of this. When a woman is able to influence her subordinates to perform better just by being who she is, she is considered (in my opinion) as powerful. She is able to win her team over and they are willing to follow her wherever she leads.

Men in leadership have seemed to be less empathetic and lead by the book versus by their natural personalities. Maybe not all men, but the majority of them do not believe or see the importance of being empathetic and understanding to their subordinates and often focus only on getting the job done.

When I as hiring for a Program Supervisor position a few years ago, I often looked for the individual who would be able to step into an already challenging role and be able to influence the already established team to change the culture of the environment. When I had given a male applicant the ability to try out this role as an Acting Program Supervisor, he came in and was focused on the vision and mission that I shared with him. He performed exactly as I needed him to in order to reach the overall goal, which is to ensure a safe and therapeutic environment for the children in the program who were currently in foster care.

When I hired a female Program Supervisor to work the opposite shift as the male, the entire milieu responded to her at a faster rate than they did with the male Program Supervisor, who worked the second shift. The female was not only able to come in and meet the goals set for her position, but she was able to build such a rapport with the staff that they began going over and beyond in their roles to make sure that they were pleasing to her. She valued their personal needs (family/work balance) and engaged in personal conversations with them frequently. She would ask about their family members and remembered their birthdays and other important and special events of the staff.

The male supervisor was nice, friendly, approaching, and understanding, but he lacked the characteristic to be personable. Nonetheless, they were both able to meet the needs of the staff and the youth that we serve. Both proved to be capable and valuable assets to the program. Their methods of operation were different; however, they were both able to improve the program in different ways. The female supervisor possessed the qualities that the male supervisor did not. Again, I want to stress that a woman is equally capable of leading in the same capacity as a man and they can both reach the goals using different methods and styles of leadership.