Do Women make better leaders?

Women make better leaders – discuss; how’s that for an essay topic?
With the lost possibility of the leader of the United States being a woman,
joining the United Kingdom, Germany and Scotland, it can legitimately be
asked do women make better leaders. My swift response, before some of you
have apoplexy, is no!

So why, I hear you asking, is there an emphasis on increasing the number of women on FTSE 100 boards and in senior positions across a range of organizations and institutions. Well that’s easy: it’s not about women being ‘better’ leaders it’s about women bringing a ‘different’ set of experiences to the leadership role.

It’s about diversity – respecting and valuing the different contribution women
bring. Employers have long recognised the business case for having more
women in the workplace. Those employers that recognise the advantages of
having women in the workplace are acknowledging the benefits we bring to
the organization in terms of performance, ability and leadership, and the
competitive edge it affords them in a global world.

Women in the workplace contribute to creating organizations that are better at
relating to their customers, produce environments that attract women
candidates and consequently have the potential to improve the talent pipeline.
So it’s about different not better, it’s about being able to bring alternative ways
of looking at a problem, and offering new solutions. It’s about identifying and
encouraging all the talents we have in this country to make a difference and to
make things better.