Feminine-inclusive leadership is a management style for which women leaders are earning global respect. This is a moment on the world stage where the importance of feminine values in leadership are drawing attention.

Beyond the headlines pinning female leaders versus male leaders, the real question is what do we value in leadership? The world might be waking up to the truth that ‘feminine’ traits are essential to human leadership.

Female Leaders In the Spotlight for Effective Crisis Management

Depending on the media source, it’s a tempting headline, but also simplifying and sweeping conclusion, that women political leaders have handled COVID-19 better than male leaders have. Regardless of whether ‘better’ is verifiable, the effectiveness of women leaders in several countries is garnering respect on the world stage.

From German Chancellor Angela Merkel, to New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, to Finland Prime Minister Sanna Marin, to Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, women leaders have been acknowledged for their success in navigating their country through the pandemic response while limiting multi-level damage.

Merkel’s government took into account a variety of diverse information sources when developing its approach, which has correlated with drastically lower fatality rates in Germany versus other Western European countries. Ardern’s caring, empathetic, cautious and rational approach in New Zealand has flown in the face of male swagger, including her rawness of addressing the country directly from her home and in her domestic context as a mother.

It’s speculated in the New York Times that a female leader may indicate these countries generally have more inclusive (feminine) values and diverse representation, including presence of women, throughout the leadership ranks. Indeed, these same countries do rank high on the Global Gender Gap Report 2020 in terms of gender equality performance, as well as having women on corporate boards.

“A small number of female leaders have emerged as a benchmark for what competent leadership looks like — and been applauded for it,” states co-authors Chamorro-Premuzic and Wittenburg-Cox in Harvard Business Review. “This group of talented leaders may become the first visible wave of role models for the generations to come, redefining the way we pick leaders in politics and business. In short, tales of strong female leaders succeeding through this crisis could lead to a change in the overarching narrative of what a strong leader looks like.”

Women Do Score Better Across Most Perceived Leadership Qualities

In a 2019 Harvard Business Review article, researchers Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman updated their 2012 research that demonstrated women leaders were perceived as effective as men, and actually scored higher on a “vast majority of leadership competencies”.

The research update was even more compelling. “Women are perceived by their managers — particularly their male managers — to be slightly more effective than men at every hierarchical level and in virtually every functional area of the organization,” wrote the authors. “That includes the traditional male bastions of IT, operations, and legal.”

Based on an analysis of 360 degree reviews, “women outscored men on 17 of the 19 capabilities that differentiate excellent leaders from average or poor ones” — including taking initiative (55.6% v. 48.2%), resilience (54.7% v. 49.3%), practicing self-development (54.8% v. 49.6%), driving for results (53.9% v. 48.8%), and displaying high integrity and honesty (54.0% v. 49.1%)”.

“We are accustomed to hearing that women are more other-directed and emotionally intelligent, which is actually proven in the research,” writes Cami Anderson in Forbes. “But, it turns out women are just as good and sometimes better at some of what we think of as male qualities, like being decisive and making tough calls.”

In part, this skill proficiency might be attributed to what it takes for women to arrive to leadership amidst the double standards they face, which makes them well-rounded, spherical leaders when they do make it to these positions.

What Feminine Leadership Traits Are Being Celebrated

Traits that have been exemplified by women leaders during the pandemic include “resilience, pragmatism, benevolence, trust in collective common sense, mutual aid and humility” as well as traits often perceived as feminine such as empathy, compassion, listening and collaboration.

“…what we know now is a “strong” leader isn’t necessarily a man who stands alone, making all the tough choices by himself,” writes Nicole Lipkin in Forbes, “But rather a servant leader, who gathers all points of view in a collaborative effort in order to arrive at the best course of action.”

Especially in a time of so much certainty, the “feminine” trait of humility is a “critical driver of leadership effectiveness in both men and women.”

As Chamarro-Premuzic and Gallop point out in HBR, “Without humility it will be very hard for anyone in charge to acknowledge their mistakes, learn from experience, take into account other people’s perspectives, and be willing to change and get better.”

Women are more collaborative, and tend to have a more realistic view of their abilities and know their limitations, and men tend to overestimate their abilities. This humility, which may not help with self-advocacy, means that women are more willing to seek support and solutions outside of their own perspective once in a leadership role.

“Decades of research show that female leaders are more likely to be democratic or participative — and less autocratic — in their leadership style, meaning they invite subordinates to participate in decision-making,” writes Zoe Marks in The Washington Post.

As written in HBR, women are also more likely to lead through transformational leadership – inspiring people, transforming attitudes and beliefs, and encouraging high levels of engagement and motivation, as well as performance. They also focus more on developing their direct reports than male leaders do.

Not only are more women leaders increasingly gaining profile internationally, but we are beginning to witness the necessity of feminine qualities of leadership that have too long been undervalued in positions of power.

by Aimee Hansen