Seven Myths about Women and Leadership

A myth is an idea or perception that has become a general truth in the popular consciousness. A lie that has been repeated enough times may also be thought true.

Not all myths are deliberate lies, but nor are they truths, either.

Myths can be used as a weapon, especially when a person or group is perceived as a threat to the prevailing order. Those who do not wish to let women become senior managers can, for instance, perpetuate myths implying that women cannot deal with power or are not interested in it.

But the facts suggest the opposite – women want power and can deal with it. They want to advance in their careers and reach senior positions. They are obstructed both by the prevailing structure and by ideas of what women and men can and should do.

Below, we explode seven myths about women and leadership.

Myth 1: Women don't want to become managers

Yes, they do, but they're not ‘allowed’ to.

Managers are often handpicked or are recruited by internal promotion; or a person – often within a closed network – is urged to apply. This mainly benefits men. Most executives are men, as are most of those who belong to the more important networks at the workplace. Men in power select people they know – other men.

A Swedish study shows that Swedish women are as interested in advancement as men. But they are obstructed by such things as the idea that family life and a career cannot be combined. Women are held back both by their own perceptions and by employers – who choose men instead.

A survey by the American research organization Catalyst found that women and men had the same level of ambition and were equally good at choosing the right strategy, for instance when managing others or meeting profit requirements. Male over-representation among executives, the study concluded, was due to the cultural barriers holding women back. Women were excluded from the informal networks of (male) power and lacked role models higher up.

Recruiting staff who have taken part in the W2T project say women tend to be more cautious than men when applying for a managerial position if they do not fulfil all the criteria in the job requirement profile. They also say that women tend to underrate their own competence, while men often exaggerate theirs.

Myth 2: Women don't have the same managerial skills as men

They're as skilled as men – but they may have a different management style.

An exhaustive American study shows that women managers are considered more results-oriented and better at achieving production goals, while men are more strategic and visionary. Women are also thought more empathetic and communicative than men. Despite these differences, however, women and men are adjudged equally effective as leaders.

A Swedish executive search company studied 2,500 male and female managers between 2001 and 2004. It focused in particular on how they dealt with various situations in their leadership roles. The results showed that there were no differences in this respect. It is the specific situation that decides the outcome, not the person’s gender.

Myth 3: Women have the wrong training

No, they don't. Women are at least as highly trained as men.

Since the late 1970s, women comprise more than half of the university graduates in many countries. In the fields of business administration, law and medicine, women have been in a majority for several years. Also, many executives are business school graduates. But if so many women are graduating from business school, surely there should be more of them in top management? If it is not their training that is the problem, what is it? Lack of experience?

Myth 4: Women do not have enough experience

Yes, they do, but top executives are often recruited from the operative middle management level, where men are in a majority.

The recruiting base for top executives is to be found at the middle management level. Many highly trained, competent women work there, but in the 'wrong' position. A study of the 500 largest companies in Sweden shows that women often have staff functions such as personnel, finances or information. Senior managers tend to be recruited from among people in operative positions with bottom line responsibility. Today, these posts are mainly occupied by men.

The recruitment path to the top, then, represents an obstacle for women wishing to advance in their careers. So women must be urged to apply for operative positions in greater numbers. Also, employers should be urged to become innovative and look for managerial candidates via other recruitment paths than the traditional ones.

Myth 5: Top executives work an 80-hour week

Yes. And no.

This myth is a result of powerful stereotype images. One is that of the male senior executive. The man who always puts the company first, who works for 80 hours a week and who – of course – sacrifices his family and his spare time for the sake of the company. Another is that of the female senior executive. The woman who is an overachiever at work, as she has chosen not to start a family.

Must it be this way? Yes and no.

Top executives work hard, it is true. Studies in Denmark showed that executives worked an average 50-hour week. Yet a majority of the female executives interviewed for the study felt they had sufficient time for their work, and also for their families. They were largely able to organise their working days themselves and to take family needs into consideration when planning their schedules.

If top jobs and family life are to be reconciled, careful planning and the support of others is needed – both at the workplace and in the home.

Myth 6: Top jobs and parenthood are irreconcilable – for women

No, they’re not – if responsibility is properly shared.

Most top managers – both women and men – have children. International comparisons show that female executives in the Nordic countries tend to have more children than women in countries without a highly developed system of public childcare. The way societies are structured, therefore, is an important factor for women wishing to pursue a career.

Yet there are differences in Sweden, too, between the private lives of men and women in top management. Almost all the male executives are married and have more children than the female executives. Many male executives have a wife who works part-time or does not have a paid job. Few female executives have access to the same kind of assistance in the home – only 60% of them are married, and usually to another top manager. This means that they either have to negotiate with their partners on who is to take responsibility for the home and the children, or they must rely on the help of family and friends. The other alternative is to buy some kind of domestic help.

Women in top jobs take parental leave to a far greater extent than their male counterparts. Before they start families, women and men compete on the same or fairly similar terms.

Why are women falling behind and why aren’t men assuming greater responsibility for the home and family? The question is complicated and the answers are many. Perhaps women find it too much to fight uphill both for a career at work and for shared responsibility at home? A woman who steps off the career path finds it much more difficult to step back on and advance in her profession than someone who has never left the path. Logically speaking, it should be just as easy for a woman with children to pursue a career as it is for a man with children. While responsibility for the division of work naturally lies with each individual family, employers can make life easier for top managers with children – whether they are women or men.

Myth 7: It’s just a matter of time before we have a gender balance at the top

No, unfortunately there is still quite a way to go.

Many people undoubtedly feel that we are already living in a society where gender equality prevails, where competent women have the same career opportunities as men. Those who believe in this myth, however, are ignoring all the studies that show how women and men do not enjoy the same opportunities or conditions in working life. Women still shoulder most of the responsibility for home and family. More work in the home means less opportunity for work outside the home – at the workplace.

Do we want to move from words to deeds and abandon the rhetoric in favour of action, to take practical steps towards equality at the top?

If so, we need to work for radical change on a broad front – so that we may consolidate the advances we have made so far and clear the path for more women at the top.

The legislative approach is one way. But active, goal-oriented efforts at all levels in the individual organisation, with the participation of all concerned, is probably the most effective way of changing and improving the work climate – for both women and men.