The Clorox Company announced this week that Linda Rendle, an executive at Clorox since 2003, will become CEO this September, raising the number of female CEOs in the Fortune 500 to an all-time high of 38. While this is certainly movement in the right direction, why do women still occupy only 7.6% of Fortune 500 CEO positions?
Female political leaders have recently been praised around the globe for their handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, but is it possible that the very reason female political leaders have excelled during the COVID crisis is why female CEOs are vastly under-represented in the Fortune 500?
When Jacinda Adern, New Zealand’s Prime Minister, quickly shut down her country in reaction to the global spread of COVID-19, it was seen as a “risk-averse strategy” – contrary to the traditional view of “leadership”. While few could have predicted what was to come in regards to COVID, this risk-averse strategy paid off: by prioritizing health and safety above all else, Ms. Adern was able to declare New Zealand virus-free on June 8, 2020, while most countries are still struggling. It may be worth noting that the current top five countries in terms of coronavirus cases (US, Brazil, India, Russia, South Africa, and Mexico) are all led by “strongmen,” suggesting the pandemic has actually revealed the weakness of the strongmen school of leadership.
Dr. Alice Evans shared in the New York Times, “There is an expectation that leaders should be aggressive and forward and domineering.” According to a study by The University of Buffalo, “When people think of a strong leader, many people subconsciously picture a man because of persistent stereotypes of men as commanding and goal-focused. Meanwhile, because they’re seen as more caring and people-focused, women have always faced a disadvantage—or outright discrimination—as leaders.”
A new study published by the World Economic Forum found that, “Being female-led has provided countries with an advantage in the current crisis.” Their findings show that COVID outcomes are systematically better in countries led by women. The study also suggests that female-led countries have had a better response to the pandemic because of differences in male and female styles of leadership. Women tend to adopt a “more democratic and participative style” than men.
Women have long been taught to be more assertive and competitive to get ahead – more recently this was re-packaged as “leaning-in” but perhaps, instead of speaking loudest, and self-promoting, women leading in an honest and authentic manner will yield the strongest results.
Maybe the COVID-19 crisis will permanently change our definition of strong leadership and usher in a new era of female CEOs in the Fortune 500?
