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Essay about Women in Leadership Roles

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INTRODUCTION
More and more women are rising to the leadership challenge, even in some of the most male-dominated industries. The increase in the number of women attending college, the increasing number of women in the workplace or starting their own business has demonstrated to men who own businesses that women can be both managers and mothers, thus showing their male counterpart that women can in fact "do it all".
In this paper the history of women in the workforce will be outlined, as well as the challenges they face. The changing attitudes towards women taking over family businesses will be looked at briefly, how women lead in comparison to how men lead, and a comparison of their leadership style will also be discussed.
HISTORY AND …show more content…

Those days have since past. As women are achieving higher levels of education and are being employed in more prominent positions, their leadership roles in family organizations have increased. Many young women are refusing to accept the rule of "primogeniture" (Nelton, 1999). Primogeniture is defined as a birthright or an inheritance. Although women are making great strides in this arena, there is still the feeling out there that the son should be considered first and the daughter as a second option, only if there is no son or if the son declines the offer. But, Nelton says that, "young women by and large feel that if they want to go into the family business, the opportunity is there." In each of the cases described by Nelton, the fathers encouraged their daughters to become involved in the family business. As well, each father let his daughter run the show once she was named CEO-the surest sign of support (Nelton, 1999). In more and more families and in business in general, gender is becoming not an issue. As roles increasingly change on the home front, the business world will soon mirror the changes taking place in the family structure. Nelton also urges women in leadership roles to not lose sight of the bottom line. She says it is "easy for women to get caught up in the management of people" (Nelton, 1999). She goes on to say that if you cannot prove that you are also profit-driven, you will never make it to the successor level.
LEADERSHIP STYLE – WOMEN

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