The Women Leadership.

A Human-Centered Approach
Marta – Christina SUCIU,
Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania
Romanian Academy, National Institute of Economic Research ”Costin Kiritescu”, Romanian
Academy of Scientists, Commission 9 for Economics, Law and Sociology
christina.suciu@economie.ase.ro

Ana – Maria BOCĂNEALĂ*

Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania
*
Corresponding author, anamaria.bocaneala@gmail.com

Decebal Octavian DUMITRESCU

Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania
decebal.dumitrescu@gmail.com

Abstract. The COVID-19 crisis, along with the other associated complex crises, has amplified the gap that
exists in terms of the number of women reaching leadership positions, despite the quality of their work and
their important contributions in various fields. This paper aims to explore women's leadership qualities,
and perceptions regarding leadership, based on quantitative data originating from four studies. Concerning
the research methodology it includes qualitative research and a comparative analysis of global studies. The
paper focuses on women, looking mostly for the proportion of women within organizations, and the main
characteristics of women's leadership. The analysis then turns to Romania, where we have identified the
proportion of women leaders. The main goal of the paper is to investigate the representation of women
leaders in EU countries and in particular in Romania. The results of the study illustrate that favorable work
conditions have a greater impact on women's aspirations to become leaders. Extrinsic structural
inequalities, such as bias against women in certain professions, and gender, racial and other discrimination,
are barriers to women's access and advancement in leadership positions in the workplace. Intrinsic
individual characteristics of successful women leaders, namely conscientiousness, respect, confidence,
acceptance, and resilience have facilitated their success in obtaining and maintaining leadership positions.

Keywords: leadership, human oriented women leaderships, leadership development

Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic crisis has accelerated tendencies and behaviours towards a flexible
working environment, highlighting the importance of diversity for innovation and the need for
more empathy and transparency. (Schmidt, 2021) Many women, who already faced problems of
job insecurity and low pay before the pandemic crisis, have been more affected by the need to stay
with children and to take care of elderly family members. As a consequence, at the level of
individuals, the impact has been stronger on women that are more vulnerable in front of
unemployment challenges. Thus the gap regarding the equality of women opportunities compared
to those of men in the workplace are amplified.
Worldwide reduction of gender disparity mostly by increasing women's accessibility and
equity of career opportunities, including leadership is a priority for decision makers on different
levels. Despite the relatively small number of women in leadership positions, there has been a
relative increase in the percentage of women having an active presence within the Board of

DOI: 10.2478/picbe-2023-0150
© 2023 M. C. Suciu; A. M. Bocăneală; D. O. Dumitrescu, published by Sciendo.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Directors for different organizations. We identified, based on a critical comparative analysis of four
studies, the proportion of women included within the Board of Directors who also benefit from
leadership positions. Next we examined the perception of women leaders about leadership based
on two Romanian case studies. We consider that this paper may contribute to the existing studies,
mostly in line with the development of a women human-centered leadership approach. The paper
includes three parts. The first part regards a brief literature review, focusing on the identification PICBE |
of the main characteristics of women leaders. The second part includes the two case studies 1682
mentioned previously. The third part illustrates some examples of success stories regarding the
careers of women leaders.

Literature review
John Maxwell expressed that Leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less (Kruse, 2013).
The question is how a leader might influence other people by keeping a positive attitude based on
applying a coherent set of values and behaviors such as to help people to co-operate in line with
the organization’ strategic plans, and to continually renew it (Mckinsey & Company, 2022). Thus,
women's leadership has to focus on guiding and influencing the organization’ outcomes in
different, but positive ways. Thus we consider human oriented leadership have to enable and
empower women such as to manifest assertiveness, decisiveness and persuasiveness by
incorporating core competencies and skills that focus on caring and nurturing, soft skills, informal-
interpersonal communication, collaboration based on a participative leadership style (Syed &
Murray, 2008). Women are able to develop an ethic of caring. They also have negotiation and
conflict resolution skills. In line with the modern approach of a human centered leadership; women
are considered to be more transformation-oriented than men. Female leaders focus more on trust
and team building than men and thus they are considered to be more human oriented. Women's
leadership includes a set of abilities (such as art, craftsmanship, narrative, caring heart) that are
perceived as attributes of female leadership based on dialogue and cooperation with men leaders
(Deloitte Global Boardroom Program, 2022). While many CEOs and leaders support the promotion
of women to senior management and board positions, there is still a need for a cultural shift and a
long-term vision to guide women on their career development that leverage their education and
skills (Deloitte Global Boardroom Program, 2022). Women leaders have to set top goals and be
proactive in developing high skills such as to achieve these goals. Leadership and its influence
within an entrepreneurial are key ingredients for competitive organizations and firms (Baltazar &
Franco, 2023)
According to the (GEM) Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM, 2022) women leaders
have an important impact on all the levels of activities (micro, mezzo and macroeconomics)
through innovation, job creation and competitiveness. Some authors (Bhatt, 2015) consider that
today there is a higher demand for women leadership due to the difficult and turbulent periods of
transformation we have to face. Leadership is based on a social building process (DeRue &
Ashford, 2010). There are authors (Post, 2015) who argue that women leaders are more likely than
their men co-leaders to facilitate team cohesion, trust building, cooperative learning, and
participative communication. Women's leadership path focuses on inclusion and thus, the emphasis
is on process rather than end goal. Women leaders aim to establish frequent and positive
interactions with team members.
The quality of these human-centered relationships will influence positively and thus affect
members' attitudes. Leadership is about building trust and a kind and decent relationship (DeRue
& Ashford, 2010). Women's leadership has the ability to overcome structural barriers within

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Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Business Excellence 2023
organizations such as those specific to an Indian cultural context (Chatwani, 2015). Chatwani
highlight that for India there are three hypotheses that describe women in management: a masculine
attitude style (women are assertive like men); women managers have different needs than men (e.g.
maternity leave); and third, women managers possess a unique style (e.g. interactivity, empathy
work-life balance). While the first two hypotheses concern issues of perception and structural, the
third reveals an opportunity for a new leadership paradigm. In order to better reflect on this new PICBE |
leadership paradigm opportunity, we will focus on the human-centered leadership style, based on 1683
the 3 H's (Heart, Head and Hands) (BCG, 2021). We consider that there are\two development
directions: to increase the number of women capacitated as leaders, and to facilitate the
development of a positive relationship between leadership and gender equal opportunities for
women's leadership.
Traditionally women's leadership potential and ability to lead are evaluated less favorably
(compared to men) because male roles are perceived as more congruent with leadership roles than
female (Corrigall, 2015). The characteristics of caring, protecting, are rather specific female
leadership human oriented. There is a need to understand the leadership experiences of successful
career stories of women leaders in Europe and Romania.
Becoming a leader involves much more than being put into a leadership role. It highly
demands to acquire and develop new skills (Ibarra et al., 2013). The authors (Ibarra et al., 2013)
suggest three actions that might be taken in order to support women's access to leadership positions:
educating women and men about gender bias, creating safe "identity workspaces" and anchoring
women's development efforts toward a leadership purpose. This paper suggests an important shift
from a static and hierarchical conception of leadership towards a more dynamic, human-centered
approach.
Women's leadership involves certain qualities including: finding a balance between office
and family, continuing education and training (life-long learning) especially in management skills,
setting achievable goals, avoiding unethical practices, and finding and following an inspiring
leadership role model. The majority of the women are looking for clear, open and transparent
communication emerging and being directed to the human heart.
In recent years, the debates regarding gender and leadership have become increasingly
controversial, moving from a relatively simple discourse of identifying structural barriers, to more
complex discussions of women's lack of motivation or confidence for leadership, and their possible
lack of leadership skills. The fight to close the gender gap in leadership remains a pertinent and
unresolved issue. In the literature, structural barriers to women's progress in organizations are
translated into descriptive metaphors such as "sticky floors” or”glass ceiling” suggesting unique
and insurmountable obstacles (EIGE, n.d.). For example,”sticky floor” is an expression used to
indicate a discriminatory employment pattern, women remain at the bottom of the job ladder, with
reduced mobility and invisible barriers to career advancement.
In terms of gender equality, the European Union has been working since 2010 to strengthen
gender diversity on company boards. In 2020, a gender equality strategy was launched: the Gender
Equality Strategy 2020-2025 (European Commission, 2020).
Deloitte Global Boardroom Program mentions in their report Women in the boardroom: A
global perspective that it is important to have women in leadership roles (Deloitte Global
Boardroom Program, 2022). The report's data shows that women occupy only 20% of board seats
globally and they continue to be excluded from the highest levels of corporate leadership. The
Deloitte Global Women in the Boardroom report was first published in 2010. Since then, efforts
have been made to overcome gender barriers. For example, in 2011, countries such as Norway,

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Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Business Excellence 2023
France and Italy took legislative initiatives in order to accelerate change and increase the number
of women included on the Directors Boards. The Deloitte Boardroom 2022 report was produced in
collaboration with the 30% Club, one of the largest and most influential organisations campaigning
for more women to join the boards of listed companies. The 30% Club activates on six continents
through 19 chapters and it aims to ensure more than 30% female representation on both the board
and the executive committee. Although it is known that 30% is the critical mass where minority PICBE |
voices are heard, extraordinary efforts are currently made in several countries. For example, in 1684
2010, in the UK, there were only 12% women on FTSE 100 boards, and by 2022 the target of 40%
has been reached ( 30% Club Growth through Diversity, n.d.).

Methodology
In order to achieve the main goal of this paper, we used a qualitative methodology. According to
(Jemielniak & Ciesielska, 2018) qualitative research has a long and rich history in organizational
studies, mostly for those dedicated to human oriented approach. Thus we used qualitative research
conducted globally, as for instance the reports called symbolically Women in the boardroom: A
global perspective, Women in Business 2021: A window of opportunity, Women’s
Entrepreneurship Report: From Crisis to Opportunity, Women on Boards in Romania. We selected
these global reports taking into account the quality of the data and the relevance of the samples
used.
For this paper we focused on career management and development for leadership women
based on some examples of best practices. Our paper had first looked for the theoretical and
methodological background based on literature review. Next we investigated the international
practical expertise starting from the global reports mentioned previously. The following step was
to select and analyze some of the most relevant career success stories in women's leadership, as
best examples of how women's leadership managed to face challenges. More specifically, the unit
of analysis in this paper took into account women’s proportion in organizations and women’s
leadership. For this purpose we used four international reports, analyzing the situation of the
percentage of women on the board of directors holding managerial positions within organizations.
The analysis had been directed to the Romanian case, where we had identified the proportion of
women leaders. The analysis includes some relevant success stories of women leaders. Since the
main goal of this paper is to investigate the representation of women leaders in EU countries and
correspondingly in Romania we tried to look also for the most important characteristics of women
leaders, taking into account at the same time the expected trends for the future, with a clear focus
on a human and heart centered approach.

Results and discussions

In our research we started from the international Deloitte 2022 report called Women in the
boardroom: A global perspective. The analysis within this report includes 10,493 companies from
51 countries (with over 176,340 director positions). The report covers the Asia-Pacific region, the
North and South America, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
The Women in the Boardroom report from 2022 looks from a broader vision to promote
gender diversity on boards by enlarging the sample for 72 countries. The report shows that the
highest percentage of women had been founded within the following industries: financial services;
consumer business; technology, media and telecommunications; production; energy and resources;
life sciences and health care. The percentage of women had been calculated based on the number

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Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Business Excellence 2023
of board seats held. The 2022 edition of the Deloitte Global Boardroom Program's Women in the
Boardroom shows slow progress towards increasing the number of women on company boards.
The global average number of women on boards is, according to the data from the 20022 report,
19.7 percent, illustrating an increase of 2.8 percentage points since the last available report,
published in 2019. The report shows that women are still excluded from top managerial positions.
The presence of more women does not mean that they also managed to reach top positions. PICBE |
Although the percentage of women on boards is almost 20%, there are comparatively few female 1685
board chairpersons (6.7% currently, while compared to 5.3% in 2019). Female executive directors
are representing a lower percentage of 5% in 2021, compared to 4.4% in 2019. This highlights
another obstacle for women. For example, companies with female CEOs have, on average,
significantly more gender-balanced boards than those led by men: 33.5% women compared to
19.4%. The finding is similar for companies with female CEOs (figure 1).

UE average
28,3%

Figure 1. Percentage of board seats held by women in 2021

Source: designed by authors based on data from the Deloitte Report 2022.

According to the data illustrated by figure 1 it is interesting to note that EU countries have
a significant share in the percentage of female board members compared to the US. For example,
France has a percentage of 43,20% followed by Norway 42,40%, Italy 36,60%, Belgium 34,60%.
At the bottom part of this ranking are Greece, Luxembourg and Romania. The UE average
is 28,3%, and the value for SUA is 23,90. We may also notice that the percentage of women on the
board in the US is lower compared to the EU average.
Within the European Union since 2010 there had been some initiative dedicated to
strengthening gender diversity on company boards. In line with this in 2010, a gender equality
strategy was launched. Next, in 2012 there was a Directive on women on company boards, aimed
at promoting diversity on company boards in the European Union, with the main objective of

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Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Business Excellence 2023
reaching a representation percentage of at least 40% for each gender for non-executive boards in
the case of listed companies.

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1686

Figure 2. Percentage of board seats held by women in UE 2021/2018

Source: designed by authors based on data from the Deloitte Report.

As illustrated in figure2, in 2021, the average share of women on board sets in the EU was 28.36%.
We may notice that on average in 2021, the share of women increased by 4,50% percent.
The country with the most significant increase in 2021 compared to 2018 was Austria with an
increase of 8.5%, followed by Italy (7.3%), Poland (7.3%), Spain (7.10%), Portugal (6.30%) and
France (6.%). The countries with the lowest growth rate were: Finland (0.80%), Norway (1.40%),
Sweden (1.40%), Germany (2.70%), Luxembourg (3.50%). It is also important to mention that in
2021 only France (43,20%) and Norway(42,40%) exceeded the target of 40% of board seats held
by women, in line with the target set in 2012 by the directive previously mentioned. France adopted
in January 2017 a 40% legislative quota for both genders to be represented on boards of directors.
This quota applies in listed companies, government companies, government organizations and
private companies with revenues or total active revenues of more than €50 million and employing
250 or more people. In the Women in the Boardroom study for France, a total of 171 companies
were analyzed, in which 771 women on the board had been identified. The industries with the
highest percentage of women on the board are: consumer business 47.4%, financial services 45.4%,
and energy & resources 44.4%. In 2021, the percentage of women CEOS was 9.7%, higher as
compared to 6.2% in 2018.
According to the Women in Business 2021, A window of opportunity Report, the main actions
taken in order to promote gender equality in 2021 were: Ensuring equal access to developmental
work opportunities (39%), Creating an inclusive culture (36%), Providing mentoring and coaching
(32%.). The report also mentions that in 2017 a quarter of the management positions were occupied
by women. Progress continued slowly, such as in 2021, it reached 31%, indicating that, in the short-
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Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Business Excellence 2023
term, a third of all senior management positions are likely to be held by women. In the case of
Romania, the situation regarding the proportion of women with managerial positions is still low.
As we can see from figure 2, in 2021 the percentage was 12.8%. compared to the EU average of
28.36%. We notice an increase of 1.8% compared to 2018. Currently, in Romania there are no
minimum legal requirements in support of women participation in company leadership. Instead,
there is a Bucharest Stock Exchange initiative, the Bucharest Stock Exchange Code of Corporate PICBE |
Conduct. (Bucharest Stock Exchange, 2015). It is mentioned in an explicit way that Boards of 1687
Directors and its committees should have an appropriate balance of skills, experience, gender
diversity, knowledge and independence such as to enable and empower them to effectively carry
out their tasks and responsibilities. The Romanian Government, through the National Agency for
Equal Opportunities between Women and Men adopted in 2018 the National Strategy 2018-2021;
which promotes equal opportunities between women and men, as well as an operational plan for
its implementation (Romanian Government, 2018).
Women on Boards Report mentions for Romania that, following the analysis of the companies
listed on the regulated market of BVB in Romania in 2020, 184 women were registered in the
executive committees and boards of directors out of 760 members in total, while in 2015 only 114
were women actively involved within the executive committees.
25%
23% 21%
20% 19%
18%

15% 14%

10%
2021
5%

0%

Figure 3. Percentage of board seats held by women by industry sector 2020

Source: designed by authors based on data from the Women on Boards in Romania report.

In figure 3 we notice the percentage of women involved within the industry sector in 2020.
The largest proportions are in: Manufacturing, Services and Financial Services.
Based on this situation we tried to design a profile of the main characteristics of women
leaders as these had been expressed by some successful women leaders who had also highlighted
some of the expected future trends. We illustrate some of these characteristics synthetically in table
1 considering it might be helpful for career management and development for the women leaders
in Romania. The table is inspired by the examples of stories of success of remarkable women
leaders.

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Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Business Excellence 2023
 Table 1. Examples of stories of success of Women leaders, as a valuable inspiring guide in line with
future expected trends for career management and development for other women leaders
Women
leaders How they managed Possible advices
Company
stories of to be a successful leadership for future women leaders
success
Eileen Chair, financial Industry The presence of other women at the Be open-minded and learn to PICBE |
Murray Regulatory Authority board is empowering me and helps me evolve your way of thinking, by 1688
(FINRA); non-executive realize my potential level, which has accepting also new ways of doing
director, HSBC Holdings benefited the organizations I serve. things!
Plc; Atlas Crest Being a leader is an ongoing learning
Investment Corp; process, and having multiple points of
Guardian Life Insurance contact to help you through this process
Company of America; and matters. It can make the difference !
Compass
Irene Chair, Taylor Wimpey plc I had been interested to do my best to Diversity is good indeed, but what
Dorner and Control Risks Limited, open people's minds by the fact that we need to do is to act in favour of
and independent non- what you're really trying to do is to inclusion. There is a high demand
executive create diversity, equality and inclusion
to focus on the diversity of the
director of Rolls Royce across the board of directors. team composition within each
Holdings plc organization, but this wouldn't
really act if members didn't act as
to favour exchanging ideas,
collaboration such as to build trust
and team making people to feel
like an integral part of the
organization. That's the goal to
strive for...but that's quite hard
since it involves also important
changes in people’s mentalities,
values and behaviour.
Veronica Managing Partner of the Perhaps it’s not title I wanted, but it I tell women: Don't think you're
Biggins Atlanta office of provided me the opportunity to better going to sit around and someone's
Diversified Search Group understand certain challenges going to say: "I think we should
and Board Practice leader call her." That's not going to
happen like this. You have to be
proactive, sometime even quite
aggressive; you have to tell people
precisely what you're interested
about. Nobody's gonna tap you on
the shoulder.
Cristina Governance manager, Companies should not see gender Leaders look beyond the numbers.
Ungureanu Qatar Investment diversity as a simple regulation, simple This need to be part of the
Authority imperative, but rather as of the modern corporate cultural journey
business priorities. Gender diversity is Diversity by itself is not enough,
linked to value creation and business the main goal should be inclusion.
success... this have to be the main Diversity and inclusion are key
driver. sources of competitive advantage
as they function as enabler of
future development and value
added creation.
Source: Designed by authors based on examples of stories of success for Women leaders.

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Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Business Excellence 2023
Conclusion
We consider that now, more than ever after the complex and diverse effects of the COVID-19
pandemic, corporations need to more seriously address the barriers to women's leadership and
invest in their career paths. It is notable that progress has been made over time (reaching the 30%
threshold for many countries) in terms of women's representation in business, but this progress is
still slow mostly for emergent countries as in the case of Romania. Thus it is very important to take PICBE |
diverse actions as soon as possible in order to promote gender equality of career opportunities. It 1689
has been shown by many examples of best practices that businesses are more competitive and get
value added and long-run sustainable competitive advantage and short-and mid-term profits when
they are led by the best and open minded people from the global talent pool. Interested to be
prepared for the complex challenges of our turbulent times that are expected to be amplified going
forward, we consider we have to anticipate these trends at least for the coming years. Thus we tried
to map the skills of women leaders based on a comparative analysis of relevant stories of success
of women leaders with a focus on qualitative issues that highlight the importance of a more human
oriented leadership vision.

Further Implications and Limitations.

Our latest analysis has revealed there is an extensive need for further academic debate with practical
applications in the realm of women's organisational leadership. We have limited our research to
performing a comparative exploration on the presence of women in leadership positions in
Romania versus other jurisdictions, showcasing trends in the proportion of female presence the
Boards of Directors throughout various territories. Our findings are primarily based on review of
secondary data and literature review. Additional research interdisciplinary studies have to be
performed. Research on multiple layers, such as women's C-suite roles, enhancement and/or
change of leadership models to incorporate the feminine-based competencies, the expected effects
of culture on women's presence in leadership positions, or building an organisational framework
for a diverse leadership, are just few directions to be taken for undergoing research. Research
questions with regards to the existence of cultural, societal or behavioural barriers for women's
accession into leadership roles in Romania have to be further explored.

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