Introduction

Women have been on the job market for many decades, and are indispensable in many jobs.
However, when speaking of management and leadership men do still make up the majority of top
positions and influencing board. It can be seen, that women in top positions are still a minority. There
might be many reasons for the lack of women in top management positions, however, the essential
thing is, that few women are occupying the leading positions. In fact in 2016, women occupied only
24% of management roles. In addition, what might seem interesting is that the number hasn’t been
increasing much in the last years. (Catalyst 2018: p. 1) The minority of women in top management might
affect one into wondering whether gender has an impact of the type and quality of leadership, or if
the lack of women in top management is a coincidence. The interest for the topic has increased
simultaneously with the fact that more women rise to the top, and becomes leader. (Mumby 2013:
p. 275) Despite the fact that women in top management positions are still minority, this paper argues
that women are better leaders than men. The paper starts of by reviewing the terminology of
leadership. Afterwards, the paper is divided into three paragraphs. The paragraphs consist of
evidence supporting that women are better leaders than men. The first paragraph argues that women
possess certain personality traits which are beneficial to possess as a leader, the next paragraph states
that women are better leaders due to their ability to collaborate and involve other in decision-- m aking.
The last paragraph takes it stand in the statement that clear and good communication are the foundation
to good leadership, arguing that due to a different communication approach, women are better
leaders. The last part, the conclusion, sums up evidence provided throughout the paper supporting
the statement hat women are better leaders than men.

The term leadership must be defined in order to understand the arguments provided in this
paper. The concept of leadership seems to be well debated and discussed in the recent years.
Many different definitions and limitations have been provided, however, the majority of scholars
examining the issue of leadership agrees upon that it is an influence process and that it involves
influencing attitudes and action. (Cheney et.al. 2011: p. 183) The definition used in this paper is
“a social influence process in which the leader seeks the voluntary participation of subordinates
in an effort to reach organizational goals” (Sinding et.al 2014: p. 569) The term “leadership” is
often used interchangeably with the issue of management. Where management is concerned
with planning, organizing and controlling, leadership is concerned with inspiring others, doing
the right thing and provides emotional support (Sinding et.al 2014: Cheney et.al 2011). The task
of leadership is therefore argued to be a more personal matter than management, which is
concerned with the formal tasks. The next section uses evidence on personality traits and
emotional intelligence to support the argument that women are better leaders than men.

Empathy and emotional intelligence

Women are more empathic and have a higher emotional intelligence, which contribute to
them being better leaders than men. When arguing that women are better leaders than men,
support for the argument must be provided. This section of the essay focus on providing
evidence that women are better leaders than men based on a few personality traits, which
traditionally are attributed to women. In traditional literature and understanding on the basic
differences between men and women, women are argued to be more empathic than men.
(Wilson 2013: p. 157) According to the literature, women differ from men on this matter. In
terms of leadership, women are also argued to be more empathic than men, which traditionally
are associated with being a weak leader. Generally, leaders are defined in masculine terms
such as e.g. powerful and competitive; however, it might be argued that other traits such as
e.g. being empathic also should be an attribute a leader should possess. The aspect of
personality traits in leadership seems to be of importance in several studies. It can be argued
that leaders of the same gender more easily appeal employees. (Kark et.al. 2012: p. 622) Since
women gradually are more present in the work force, this might also be an argument why
women appear as better leaders. Traditionally, before women entered the job market, the
majority of the workers were men. Since literature suggest that employees have more easily
identifies with leaders of the same gender, the increasing number of women of the work force
strongly indicates that women are perceived as better now, then when the majority of the
workers were men. (Kark et.al 2012: p. 622) In addition to the former statement that employees
more easily identifies with leaders of the same gender, Kark provides evidence that employees
in generally identifies more with female leaders than male leaders. (Kart et.al 2012: p. 632).
The evidence that female leaders are more easily identified can be used positively of female
leaders. If followers, or subordinates are identifying with the leader, it is easier to lead them.
Therefore, because women possess certain personality traits they are perceived as better
leaders than men. In addition to the aspect of personality traits, the issue of emotional
intelligence might be brought into consideration.

Emotional intelligence is argued to be the ability to manage your own emotions and those of
others in constructive manners (Sinding 2014: p. 108). In other words, emotional intelligence is
concerned with social competences and intelligence. Scholars argue that emotional intelligence is seen
as more important than general intelligence (Sinding 2014: p. 108). Emotional intelligence have four
key components; 1) self-- awareness, which is one’s self-- picture and the ability to recognize one’s
own emotions, 2) social awareness, which is the ability to sense other’s emotion and react to them,
3) self-- m anagement, the ability to keep emotions under control and 4) relationship management,
which is e.g. influencing others and resolve conflicts. Communication and leadership are some of the
aspects in which the issue of emotional intelligence is seen to be vital for (Sinding 2014: p. 110).
The abilities to lead others and communicate to them in a particular clear manner are seen
as positive outcomes of high emotional intelligence. Furthermore, there is a strong connection
between emotional intelligence and high work-- performance and negotiation skills (Mayer et.al
2008: p. 513). These are skills, which can be attributed to being a good leader. Research
indicates, that women in general have higher emotional intelligence than men (Alavinia et.al
2014: p. 150). The argument that women are better leaders are strongly supported by this
section, which argues that due to personal employees are easier appealed by female leaders,
and are therefore able to identify with them. Furthermore, the section support the argument that
women are better leaders by providing evidence that women have a higher emotional
intelligence, which is connected to better performance and leadership. The next section focus on
collaboration and leadership style, and how these issues contribute to the argument to women being
better leaders than men.

Collaboration and leadership style

Women are better leaders than men, because women are more collaborative, which is also
seen in their leadership style. This section provides evidence for the argument by addressing
the aspects of collaboration and leadership style, and how this contributes to being a good
leader. Women are often argued to me more collaborative than men (Wilson 2013: p. 157). The trait
of being collaborative have traditionally not been a trait attributed to leaders, since leaders had to be
powerful and independent of subordinates, however, it can be argued that being collaborative can be
beneficial for leaders. The issue of including others in decisions is also a topic of interest in other
studies. E.g. Rosener (Rosener 1998: p. 9) argues that women tend to be more interactive and
including in their manner of leadership. According to this, women are better leaders than men,
since they are able to include subordinates in the decision-- m aking process and though interaction
and conversation make decisions, which affect the manager, the company and the employee. By
including subordinates, the leaders make the employees feel that they are a part of deciding, and
thereby, the power distance between leader and employees becoming smaller.
 In addition to collaboration, women are said to have a different leadership style than men. The
issue of leadership can be divided into three branches: autocratic, democratic and laissez-- faire (Cheney
et.al 2011: p. 186). The effects and results on the different types of leadership style have been widely
examined. Eagly and Karau provided a study on principals in public schools in order to examine the
different leadership styles used. The findings suggest that female principals tend to lead and manage
in a more democratic and less autocratic style than men (Eagly & Karau 1992: p. 91). This goes along
with the argument that women are more collaborative and wishes to include others in the decisions.
The democratic or interactive leadership style might not be effective in traditional hierarchical
organizations; however, Rosener argues that the interactive style is more effective in non-- hierarchical
organizations (Rosener 1998: p.9). According to this argument it can be said that women are better
leaders, especially in non-- hierarchical organizations. One of the key elements of organizational
structure is the hierarchy. The term hierarchy is used to identify the vertical levels of an organization
(Cheney et.al. 2011: p. 20). It usually indicates who refers to whom, and who decides over whom.
Many organizations seek to change their structure, in order to make it more flat by e.g. introducing
more team-- based management (Cheney et.al.2011: p. 20). Furthermore, research argues that women
are more focused on being social leaders than men are argued to be. On the contrary, men tend to be
more focused on tasks, and especially tasks which do not require social interaction (Eagly & Karau
1991). By this, they argued that women are more concerned with social interaction and social context
in terms of their subordinates than men are.

This can be seen as an attribute to leadership, since the emphasis on social relations and social
interaction might be beneficial to leaders. One might argue that a subordinate who are socialized and
has the feeling of a social bond to the leader, might be more likely to follow the directions provided
from the leader. By combining the arguments that women are leading in a more interactive
way and that an interactive leadership style is more effective in non-- hierarchical organizations,
this section supports the argument that women are better leaders than men. The next section uses
the aspects of communication to provide support for the argument that women are better leaders
than men.

Communication
Women tend to use a different communication approach than men, which is more effective in
leadership. This section uses the aspect of communication, and communication skills to argue that
women are better leaders than men. Both the aspect of verbal and non-- verbal communication is
relevant for this particular argument. It can be argued that clear and good communication is the
foundation of good leadership, therefore, since research indicate that women are better at
communicating than men, this implies that women are better leaders than men. Communication is
crucial for leadership, since leaders must be able to e.g. influence others (Cheney et.al 2011: p.
191) In order to provide an argument based on the issue of communication, one might need to
include particular studies and surveys providing as background knowledge. Studies suggest that
women are communicating in a different manner than men, focusing on creating a community,
empowering subordinates and communicating effectively (Fondas, 1997). These communication
patterns can be used in connection to the issue provided in the former section, that women tend to
be better at social leadership, whereas men focus on task leadership. Furthermore, Folkman did a
survey on male and female leaders, and figured that women in general are better at
communicating clear and precise to their subordinates than men are (Folkman 2015: p. 2). In
addition, Some of the issues, which really excel in this survey, was the aspects of that women
follow through on commitment, keep promises and build relationships. (Folkman 2015: p. 2-- 3). This
can also be seen in connection to aspect of women being good social leaders and putting emphasis
on relationship building and social context. This paragraph clearly suggest that women’s approach to
communication make them better leaders than men, since they are able to express clear
communication along with providing a sense of community.

Turning to non-- verbal communication, it can be seen that men and women also differ on this topic.
Non-- verbal communication is basically all communication, which is not verbal, meaning e.g. facial
expressions, gestures, and postures. Without knowing it, people express a lot of things besides
what they are actually saying, however, non-- verbal communication can have crucial consequences
if it is perceived in a different way than intended. However, what tends to be the bigger issue of non-
- verbal communication is the issue that people are not aware of the signals and the communication
they provide with their body without using verbal communication. Women tend to put more
emphasis on non-- verbal communication, whereas men focus more on verbal communication; what
is actually being said (Sinding 2014: p. 158). The statement that women tend to focus more on non-
- verbal communication often makes them better listeners, which goes along with the argument that
women are more including in their leadership style. Furthermore, studies indicate that women use
more eye contact, smile more and take less space in the room (Spangler 1995: p. 412). This can be
seen in connection to their leadership style, where much on the emphasis has been on the fact that
women are more including in their style of leadership. On the contrary, men take more space in the
room (Spangler 1995: p. 412). These patterns of non-- verbal communication can be attributed to
leadership. Women tend to be more inclusive and interactive in their style of leadership. Being
interested in securing eye contact and smiling might help the female leader to seek the agreement
from e.g. subordinates. Also, the fact that women are taking less space in the room might be
connected to the fact that females often are seen as better leaders than men in non-- hierarchical
organizations, as mentioned earlier. This section provides support for the argument that women
are better leaders than men by including the issues of verbal and non-- verbal communication. The
next paragraph sums up and concludes upon the arguments provided throughout the paper.

Conclusion
This paper aims to provide evidence for the argument that women are better leaders than
men. Throughout the paper, different supporting arguments are provided in order to back up
the main claim of this paper. Using meta-- analysis, studies, surveys and scholarly articles, the paper has
throughout the paper found evidence for the claim. The first supporting argument provided in this
paper is that due to particular traits and higher emotional intelligence women were better suited for
leadership than men. Due to changed perceptions of leadership, women possess certain
characteristics, which are beneficial when being a leader. The second supporting argument
provided in this paper is concerned with women being more collaborative than men, which also
influences their leadership style. Due to an increasing number of organizations with hierarchical
structures in the workplace, women in general tend to be a good fit for the organizations.
Supported by evidence, women are more interactive and including in their leadership style, which goes
along with the statement that traditional hierarchical structure are decreasing. The last aspect
focuses on communication, and how different communication approaches are contributing to women
being better leaders than men. Women provide clear and concrete communication, while ensuring
a sense of community and collaboration to the involved. Furthermore, women use non-- verbal
communication in a different way argued to be more effective than the approach men tend to use. By
using supporting evidence and claims, tracing the argument throughout the paper, it can be concluded
that women are better leaders than men.

7
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