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REDEFINING

LEADERSHIP

Exploring the future of leadership through a feminist lens.

published January 2025 | Sarah Emery Clark

This year, close to half of the world’s population will be electing new leadership1. In a landscape of geopolitical, environmental and economic strife, examining power imbalance is crucial.

While the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call for gender balanced leadership by 2030, the root causes of imbalance remain largely unaddressed.

Research shows that leaders who embrace feminist leadership values such as collaboration and empathy create thriving organizations and nations. So why are we not demanding more of these values from our leadership, regardless of gender?

Building a world where everyone’s rights and wellbeing are respected is more than a numbers game. To thrive, how we perceive and practice leadership needs to be redefined through a feminist lens.

In the words of bell hooks…

feminist leadership is for everybody.

click on yellow arrows in accordion menus for linked citations

explore

First, we'll look at data and case studies that illuminate how values affect leadership. We’ll learn about feminist leadership and why it matters, exploring the challenges women* face and the opportunities that arise from adversity.

participate

Participate in The Leaderboard citizen science project for a collective exploration of leadership structures. Together, we’ll examine different ways of leading, mapping a new model for leadership.

*while this publication draws on data and research done in a binary framework, there are many ways the word ‘woman’ can be inhabited. I’ll invite you to let your definition be porous.

table of contents

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Gender and leadership | what does the data tell us?

When we examine what qualities are valued in leadership in both public and private sectors we discover that soft skills are crucial, especially in times of crisis.

There’s more to leadership than dominance and assertiveness. Qualities that demonstrate emotional capacity and inspire harmony are essential components of effective leadership. Studies done by the Harvard Business Review show that women in leadership roles perform better than their male counterparts, especially in a crisis. This is so common that it even has a name: The Glass Cliff 3, where women are put in charge of fixing organizations on the brink of failure

Gender balance quotas alone won’t shift the leadership paradigm if all genders are expected to assimilate into male roles4. Instead, let’s examine how women’s strengths might redefine what leadership looks like.

Women outscore men in most leadership competencies.

In 2019 the Harvard Business Review ran a private sector leadership assessment study that found women to be rated significantly higher than men in leadership skills. The study looked at the competencies that direct reports ranked as most important. Notably, respondents placed greater importance on interpersonal skills, including taking initiative, acting with resilience, and displaying high integrity, all of which women rated higher on.

After analyzing thousands of assessments, women were rated higher than men in 84% of the measured competencies. This leadership competency gap widened when a similar study was performed during the pandemic, suggesting that women perform better in a crisis 5.

“only 6% of publicly listed companies globally are run by women despite companies with female leadership outperforming the market average.”

Grace O’Brien | co-founder, Pink Chip 6

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Here’s where we are now...

private sector leadership

Only 19% of global corporate CEOs are women...

...in spite of firms with female CEOs and CFOs consistently producing superior stock price performance compared to the market average.

Recent years have seen a notable drop in the percentage of female CEOs. At large corporations these numbers dropped from 28% to 19% between 2022 and 2023. When asked about their reasons for leaving CEO roles, women cited public pressure, care-giving responsibilities and that they felt pressure to behave more like men 7.

public sector leadership

Only 22% of speakers of parliament are women...

...in spite of women in political leadership having positive effects on economics, peacekeeping and crisis management.

Global response to crises shows that countries with gender balanced politics fare better than those without. So why is political representation still lagging far behind women’s representation in the wider workplace? Globally, women cite gender based violence, harassment and non-inclusive infrastructures as barriers to participating 8.

This leaves a lot of room for improvement.

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Inclusive and equitable leadership, creating diverse spaces where everyone is heard and valued.

What is feminist leadership, and why does it matter?

Feminist Leadership is a process of transforming ourselves, organizations, and the world to advance a vision of social justice and equality. It's about dismantling discriminatory power structures, and building a world where everyone's rights and wellbeing are respected.

Feminist Leadership is based on three key principles:

True strength lies in uplifting and empowering others.

Accountability and integrity, supporting a culture of respectful communication and collaborative leadership.

Self-awareness and care, encouraging leaders to manage their egos, recognize vulnerabilities, and lead with empathy.

the impact of feminist leadership

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Sustainable Development Goal 16.7 | Inclusive Leadership

Target 16.7

Ensuring responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels.

SGD 16

Promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, providing access to justice for all and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.

Mapping women’s global political participation

The link between gender balanced, skills based leadership and successful humanitarian outcomes is clear20. Many of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals depend on these positive outcomes.

To better understand where we’re going let’s take a look at where we are now.

While the UN cites women in leadership as a path towards improved political judgement, their data shows that women are underrepresented in decision-making worldwide. We have a long way to go to reach gender parity 21.

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Barriers to Inclusion

It’s a sticky problem

and it’s not just institutional...

...it’s cultural. Even in countries with protocols in place to ensure inclusivity in politics, women are still under-represented. Studies show that this is a cultural problem that correlates to a complex cycle of underrepresentation and ongoing discrimination.”

“rather than emulating male leaders, it’s crucial that women see female role models succeeding on their terms…without apology. ”

- Margie Warrell | Ph.D 23

44.4% of surveyed female parliamentarians received threats of death, rape, or abduction during their term of office.

The solution to gender bias lies in re-imagining what leadership itself looks like.

Click on the case study drop downs to learn more about the barriers to women’s leadership.

In a culture where subtle slights are overlooked, micro-aggressions continue to erode women's pipeline to leadership.

Women in power often have to choose between being seen as likeable but incompetent, or competent but cold.

Research shows that female students are more likely to choose a STEM (science, technology, engineering, or math) major when they have a female professor.

Most Americans agree that women candidates have to work harder than men to prove themselves.

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Citizen science | the shape of leadership

Imagine yourself as a leader!

You don’t have to be a powerful politician or the CEO of a company to be a leader. You might be a teacher, a community organizer, a teammate, or a student. The best leaders are always learning, growing, and listening. What kind of a leader are you?

Participate in the project to find out!

Acknowledgments & Citations

This self-directed project began as an exploration of the SDGs with the team at infogr8 as part of their Future Fridays programming.

The stories we share today are a fraction of those that have come before... I encourage all participants to challenge the notion of leadership not only through the lens of gender but though that of colonialism. My story necessitates a deeper acknowledgement to the Pentlatch, E’iksan, Sahtloot and Sasitla First Peoples. I’ll ask that we all keep reconciliation in mind as we reimagine leadership.

To find out more about your indigenous territory, visit https://native-land.ca/

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THE LEADERBOARD | data design, participatory research
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VISUALIZING LONELINESS | data design