Female Leadership in Crisis: Issues, Theories, and Recommendations

This presentation addresses the key issues impacting female leadership, particularly in the context of the coronavirus crisis. It identifies challenges such as the 'Glass Cliff' phenomenon, increased workload, lack of guidance, and stereotype threats. The presentation analyzes these issues, connecting them with relevant theories like authentic and transactional leadership, and provides recommendations for improvement. It also highlights the importance of empathy, agility, and high engagement levels. The presentation references several studies and articles that support the analysis and recommendations, offering valuable insights into how female leaders can navigate and overcome these challenges.

Issue – Female Leadership
Identification of issue
Due to the outbreak of the
coronavirus crisis, there has been
enormous test of female
leadership. They have come across
with different issues and faced
numerous challenges during the
pandemic as compared to the male
leaders. When discussing in
relation with the women leaders,
there is a phenomenon defined as a
“Glass Cliff”. This topic is
perceptibly connected with the
glass ceiling which explains the
imperceptible blockade to
expansion that is being faced by
females mostly when they are up
for promotions to the top level in
any business corporations.
FACTORS AFFECTING THE
FEMALE LEADERSHIP
 Lack of guidance
 Perception gap
 Stereotype threat
 Nepotism
 Self-confidence
MODELS AND THEORIES
USED
• Glass cliff theory
• Authentic leadership
• Transactional leadership
theory
Analysis of issue in organization
There is an increased pressure and work
load for women. Single parents are more
likely to be women and thus, have
struggled a lot throughout this
coronavirus time. Further, the
managerial positions of the women were
at risk because of the lack of support
from the top-level management and
other employees and these female
leaders can easily be replaced by other
make counter partners. Faced issues
related to managing work-life balance,
inability to establish the work rhythm,
non-work demands that exists in the
home environment and the presence of
the young children.
Recommendation on issue
Some of the lessons which can be learnt from
the female leadership are:
 Leading with empathy and honesty
 Valuing people
 Remaining agile
 High engagement level
Moving further, it is also highly suggested to
undertake certain steps that helps in equal
participation of females at the leadership
positions
 Crisis and change management for
highlighting the ways in which women
are under-represented
 Training as well as support
 Coping cycle to be used for those who
are resisting change
REFERENCES
• Al-Ghanim, K., 2019. Perceptions of Women’s Roles
between Traditionalism and Modernity in Qatar. Journal
of Arabian Studies. 9(1). pp.52-74.
• Amon, M., 2017. Looking through the Glass Ceiling: A
Qualitative Study of STEM Women’s Career Narratives.
Frontiers in Psychology. 8(236).
• Bakari, H., Hunjra, A. and Niazi, G., 2017. How Does
Authentic Leadership Influence Planned Organizational
Change? The Role of Employees’ Perceptions: Integration
of Theory of Planned Behavior and Lewin's Three Step
Model. Journal of Change Management. 17(2). pp.155-
187.
• Bechtoldt, M. N., Bannier, C. E. and Rock, B., 2019. The
glass cliff myth?–Evidence from Germany and the UK.
The Leadership Quarterly. 30(3). pp.273-297.
• Burleson, S., Tyler, W., Major, D. and Reynoldson, K.,
2018. Women in STEM Workplaces and Computer-
Mediated Communication. International Journal of Virtual
Communities and Social Networking. 10(3). pp.1-22.
The pandemic has posed different
challenges and issues on leaders of varied
companies and in the context of the
female leaders it is very precarious. The
main aim of the current presentation is to
focus on the key issues being faced by
the female leadership and the factors that
has affected the same. Theories will be
analysed and recommendations about
learnings will be presented.
Introduction
THE FEMALE LEADERSHIP
LESSONS
During the covid-19 crisis every
organization was facing the
problem of operating their
business. There were many
problems like they were not able
to trade and render services which
has impacted their revenue and
sales margin. The company had
shortage of employees which has
also impacted its business
operations (Maak, Pless and
Wohlgezogen, 2021). There were
many organisations who were
facing a large amount of losses,
and they had no chance for
recovery.