The Sunday Mail
Maggie Mzumara
Last week’s instalment shone the spotlight on the double-bind that many women leaders find themselves in, whereupon if they exhibit some leadership qualities which are considered leader-like in a male kind of way, they risk being disliked for it; and if, on the other hand, they exhibit what are considered typically feministic characteristics, they are considered not leader-like.
This, in fact, reflects that there are tensions that exist between the female gender role and the leader role, given that there is some perceived role incongruence between being female and being a leader, stereotypically speaking.
But what really about these roles distinguishes the gender, and how?
Also, what are these roles exactly that are prescribed to each of the genders as per society and/or culture?
Let us unpack this.
Men as agentic and women as communal
Although, of course, there are exceptions to the rule, stereotypically, men are associated with what are referred to as agentic roles, while women are aligned with what are known as communal roles.
This view places agency in men but not in women.
Prominent researcher on women, gender and leadership, Alice Eagly, distinguishes between the communal and agentic dimensions of gender-stereotyped characteristics as follows: the communal role is characterised by attributes such as nurturance and emotional expressiveness, commonly associated with domestic activities, and thus, with women.
The agentic role is characterised by attributes such as assertiveness and independence, commonly associated with public activities, and thus, with men.
Behaviour is strongly influenced by gender roles when cultures endorse gender stereotypes and form firm expectations based on those stereotypes, Eagly says.
According to David Bakan, a psychologist, (and many other researchers and gender and leadership experts have echoed the same) agentic traits are those that help individuals “stand out” (power, dominance, aesthetics, aggression, money, social status, competence, achievement-oriented, assertiveness, decisiveness, independent, forceful, et cetera), whereas communal traits are those that promote “fitting in and connecting with others” (kind, good listener, empathetic, sensitive, sharing, compassionate).
In essence, this means that agentic traits facilitate “getting ahead” (manipulative, ruthless, industrious), whereas communal traits facilitate “getting along” (agreeable, honest, fair communicator, loyalty).
Mismatch, incongruity unpacked
Most research has contrasted these two roles — agentic and communal — and posited that women leaders are disadvantaged because of the perceived mismatch between the agentic traits ascribed to the prototypical leader and the communal traits associated with the female gender.
Eagly and fellow researchers say because of this perceived inconsistency, the two roles are typically viewed as incongruous.
Research based on the role congruity theory has shown that this perception of role incompatibility has detrimental effects for women with respect to leadership effectiveness.
The perceived incompatability between the leader role and the female gender role has been shown to prevent women from even being categorised as leaders.
Further, role congruity theory posits that when women do exhibit agentic behaviours, they are evaluated as less communal because they are perceived to have violated their gender role expectations, and that is what we highlighted last week as the source of their unlikability and penalty for being contrary to what culture and society expects.
Effect of Stereotypes on performance
Gender stereotypes can impact on performance.
Stereotype threat is defined as “an individual’s awareness that he or she may be judged by or may self-fulfil negative stereotypes about her or his gender or ethnic group”.
Research indicates that stereotype threat can negatively affect performance by increasing anxiety.
Research findings also suggest that negative stereotypes can and do negatively affect performance even when the stereotype has not been internalised or incorporated into the view of the self.
What this means is that existing stereotypes have a way of affecting the performance of those subjected to them. Especially negatively.
Advantage in disadvantage — Some positive news for women leaders yet!
After much doom and gloom from research and practice over the years about the role incongruence and how it reflects negatively on women leaders, in relatively recent times, a new debate has emerged over the potential existence of a female leadership advantage based on that same incongruency.
Proponents of the existence of a female leadership advantage (Eagly and colleagues) have argued that women may be more inclined to lead in ways that are particularly effective in contemporary times.
Communal traits and behaviours are increasingly becoming valued leadership characteristics.
For example, contemporary trends of transformational leadership highlight the benefits of using a communal approach to leading (Dezso & Ross, 2008; and others).
Specifically, communal leadership behaviours and approaches — such as individualised consideration and inspirational motivation, collaborative and consultative behaviours, all of which come naturally to most women — are increasingly associated with effective leadership in modern times.
Additionally, there are grounds to conclude that a woman’s presence in a top leadership role, a highly masculine role, speaks volumes about her abilities: specifically, that she must be exceptionally competent to have attained success in a role that requires such agentic traits.
Women in these top positions may be evaluated as more competent than men in these roles because of the perception that they must have had to meet or exceed exceptionally high standards to become successful in such positions.
Top Women Leaders as both Agentic and Communal
Some research on stereotype content models acknowledges that there are conditions under which individuals can be simultaneously perceived as high in both competence and warmth ( for example, high in both agency and communality).
Such research submits that top women leaders may constitute a subgroup for which this categorisation may be particularly applicable.
It is possible that, instead, women top leaders would receive high ratings on their communal abilities because a feminised approach to managing others is increasingly viewed as strength in contemporary leadership.
Maggie Mzumara is a media, communication & leadership specialist. She is a strong advocate of women’s leadership and is founder of the Success in Stiletto (SiS) Seminar Series, a leadership development platform for women. She can be reached on [email protected] or Twitter @magsmzumara
