Against what model? Evaluating women as leaders in the pandemic era

Susan R. Vroman and Tiffany Danko

Gender, Work and Organization, 2020, vol. 27, issue 5, 860-867

Abstract: Women at work have long accepted how societal norms and cultural expectations impacted their at‐work behaviour. Despite the fact that no one model has ever universally established a benchmark for women’s leadership, women attempted to become what they perceived others wanted them to be. Between aspiring to achieve ideal worker status and enacting a style somewhere between the stereotypical connotations of agentic and communal behaviours, women leaders expended a great deal of emotional labour to find the perfect balance. Today, the COVID‐19 pandemic has created a new, potentially untenable, challenge: to identify what working women are evaluated against to achieve excellence. This article shares a perspective of how women leaders have been evaluated during tumultuous times using historical research and examples. Based upon our findings, it appears that the communal leadership style most women are thought to naturally display may be an advantage.

Date: 2020
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