Closing the Leadership Gap:
Why Women Can and Must Help Run the World

by Marie C. Wilson
The Penguin Group, 2004

    Closing the Leadership Gap: Why Women Can and Must Help Run the World is a must read for everyone, regardless of gender, who is or aspires to be a leader.  This book examines the current status of women in leadership, examining barriers to leadership for women and cultural and societal changes that would help women get into leadership positions.  The author begins with a background of her own knowledge and experience in leadership.  She grew up in the 1940s and 1950s and was a traditional woman, a cheerleader in high school, winning beauty pageants, and starting a family young and poor.  She later went on to get a B.A. in philosophy and a master’s degree in education.  Her first professional job was at Drake University as the director of women’s programs.  She eventually went on to become the executive director of the Ms. Foundation for Women in New York City, which takes on women’s issues such as economic development, safety, and reproductive health.  Much of the research that she talks about in the book comes from the Ms. Foundation and the White House Project, whose mission is to advance women’s leadership in every public sector, including the presidency.

This book also serves to highlight some important statistics about women in the workplace.  The author notes that while women make up over half of the entire population, only 59 of 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 14 of 100 senators are women.  The United States, which is supposed to be fairly progressive in terms of equality for women, does not measure up to other countries like Norway and Sweden, who have over 40 percent women in their legislative branches.  The numbers are not more encouraging in the workplace, either.  Women comprise 47 percent of the labor force, yet are largely overrepresented in the lower rungs and underrepresented in the higher rungs of the employment ladder.  Of workers making the minimum wage of $5.15 or less, 63 percent are women, yet there are only 6 female CEOs in the top 500 companies of the Fortune 500 with only 13.6 percent sitting on the boards of the companies.  Clearly we need to make strides at reducing these differences.

To help understand why these differences exist, the author examines why women have a difficult time getting into leadership positions.  She does so by considering the classic book The Scarlet Letter where the main character is forced to wear a sweater with a red A on it to signify her disgrace from society for committing adultery.  She considers the barriers to women’s leadership as scarlet A’s: authority, ambition, ability, and authenticity.  Authority is a barrier that has historically been denied to women and is not considered part of a women’s role in society.  Ambition, one of the hallmark characteristics of manhood, is thought to be unladylike and is often discouraged in women.  Women have both innate and learned abilities, yet these are often ignored or even trusted less often than for less qualified men.  Finally, while trying to negotiate authority, ambition, and ability, women often lose their authenticity – their voice – in an attempt to conform to the standard set for men.

The book concludes with a series of interviews conducted by the author where she emailed numerous powerful female leaders and asked them the following two questions:  “What were your biggest obstacles to attaining leadership, and what helped you most to overcome them?” and “If you could give leadership advice to the generation that will ultimately replace you, what would it be?” (pp.151-152).  She quotes responses from leaders such as Lt. General Claudia J. Kennedy, who was the first female three-star general in the U.S. Army, and Marsha J. Evans, president and CEO of the American Red Cross.  This book also contains many stories of women in leadership positions throughout history, often delivered with comedy and intrigue.  The author has many interesting personal stories as well, including how she helped to get Mattel to create President Barbie, made in three different races (black, white, and Latina).  This created quite a stir in the 2000 presidential election, prompting many to ask: “Where are the women in politics and leadership?”  But President Barbie did just what the author recommends everyone do: she made the public more aware of our lack of female leaders.  This book was very enjoyable and entertaining to read and should certainly spark some questions regarding gender and society.  It will also hopefully spark some inspiration to all who are interested in helping obtain equal representation of women in leadership positions.

~ Contributed by Misty Bennett

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