An investigation of female and male constructs of leadership and empowerment

Abstract

Abstract Describes the findings from two recent UK studies which investigated female and male constructs of leadership qualities. Very different models emerged. The women′s descriptors related directly to notions of transformational leadership, and the men′s to transactional leadership. The implications for assessment practices are considered, as is the concept of empowerment, which is central to the notion of transformational leadership and fast becoming the organizational "buzz" word. Less obvious, and of particular concern, are the observations that empowerment, like so many other values, is a gendered concept, and that beneath its attractive humanistic guise may be hidden a more sinister interpretation.