Women and Leadership: The State of Play and Strategies for Change

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WOMEN, LEADERSHIP, AND THE NATURAL ORDER

Rosalind Chait Barnett

While the question of whether women have what it takes to be leaders continues to capture headlines in the United States, the same is not true in many other countries. In 2005, Michelle Bachelet was elected president of Chile, Angela Merkel was named chancellor of Germany, and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was elected president of Liberia. Politics is not the only realm in which women's capacity to lead is questioned: women's ability to lead in business and the military is also the topic of considerable public debate in the United States. Although this debate occurs at all levels of our society—our homes, classrooms, universities, legislatures, courtrooms—nowhere is it more visible and ...