CHARISMATIC LEADERSHIP AND GENDER

The article depicts the preconceived notions about the characteristics that favor men over
women and how social network affects the way in which leaders are perceived by others in
terms of effectiveness and charisma. But this social network affects the leadership quality of
both men and women differently.
The article also highlights the two key properties of team level networks i.e concentration of
power and team cohesion and how this affect the way women are seen as charismatic leaders.
Power concentration is the tendency of limited people in the team network to be more central
than other. This concentration leads to dominance by a smaller number of individuals over
others and the hierarchical structure developed tend to reinforce gender stereotype thereby
placing men at an advantage. These structures cue male gender stereotype as it ascribes
characteristics such as controlling, dominance and ability to lead as associated to male role.
The team structures which exhibits the high-power concentration see women as less
charismatic leaders than men.
The other key characteristic at the team level network is the compensatory effect of Team
cohesion on women leaders charisma. The article depicts how team cohesion help women
escape the degradation of their charismatic leadership abilities in a power concentrated team
network.