Sobre la existencia y el origen de las diferencias en el liderazgo entre hombres y mujeres

Abstract

In this debate I will focus on the existence of a wide number of psychosocial variables which explain, rather than the simple fact of being male or female, why differences between the leadership of men and women are regularly found. The inadequacy of categorical and individual differences approach is underlined first, insofar as they point to a supposed lack of certain characteristics which are deemed necessary for performing a leadership function, or try to show that women, lacking these characteristics, do possess others, even more adequate, for becoming good leaders. My contention is that the differences found, far from being real, are a product of these (erroneous) adopted approaches. Two ideas guide my line of reasoning: a) are there differences between the leadership of men and women?, b) provided that there are, what is their origin? My conclusion is that men and women are equally able to perform leadership roles, that some men and some women will perform well in certain roles and less well in others, and that beliefs have a strong influence on evaluating and judging leadership behaviors.