Female Leaders - It’s Not Just About Gender: A Case Study

From the passing of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, females have competed for previously all male-held jobs. Suddenly finding themselves on unfamiliar ground, women needed workplace survival guides more than workplace success guides. Over the years, numerous studies have tracked women on their way to the top of organizations. These studies noted while there are more women in the workplace today, overall women are still struggling with career advancement and, in particular, with role models for successful managerial leadership. As of 2014, nearly 52% of all professional-level positions in the United States were held by women; yet they held only 14.6% of senior management positions and only 4.6% of Fortune 500 CEO positions. Though the authors found a plethora of articles offering career advice and tips for working women, there was a paucity addressing best practices for female executives. Thus, to fill this gap in the literature, the authors approached the subject from a practical angle and offer lessons learned for women managers from one of the authors who was the first female director of manufacturing at a Fortune 500 company