Female Leadership and World Progress

From Sanhorizons 30 October2016

The Growing Role of Women Leaders

A Call for More Female Involvement and Male Support

The important question of leadership and progress is the topic of this article and I write amidst a whole array of important issues being brought to the fore during this year's US American presidential election. A broad range of problems like disrespectful treatment of women, violation of girls' rights on the increase and, last but not least, the silence of what I provokingly call 'the male world' when confronted with many of these issues, all this has caught my attention during the last year or so. I have in my own modest way tried to use this website's blog pages to address some of these problems by highlighting the progress we have made so far, mainly but not only thanks to women's networks in business, academia and entertainment. In the below I discuss the need for more female leadership and involvement, including men's support for these networks, in order to assure that progress in the world will continue.

Sheryl Sandberg: one of the most influential women in the world.

I work with the link between leadership and progress on a day-to-day basis, both in business and in higher education and am thus confronted with a whole range of issues relative to gender and ethnicity in today's globalised world. And almost every day I see or read about wasted potential, whether among our various groups of immigrants in the West or, yes you guessed it, among the majority gender: the women. My concern about lost potential and discrimination would have been the same were it the men we were wasting or brushing aside, but no: it is clearly  the world's women who are the lowest paid, most likely to be sacked, or worse, raped at college or at home. These are merely statistical facts.

A prominent business Leader in today's world: Angela Ahrendts

If you are still sceptical about this LSE Alumnus from North Western Europe (ego) who preaches Political Correctness or sucks up to Feminism or Humanitarian Ideology, please think twice and ponder: the countries with the highest level of democracy, the lowest levels of corruption and crime, the highest degree of measurable wealth, and the strongest competitiveness on the global markets, are countries which make place for women at the top and allow as well as highly appreciate the contribution women give to society overall, whether in the economy, the Academy or in the cultural sector. The story is virtually the same if you look at immigrant inclusion.

New Leaders of Tomorrow's World ready to take over.

According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), the three countries on top, i.e. those which make way for women in power or should I say accept and appreciate that women make way for themselves, are: Iceland, Finland and Norway. All Nordic countries. If you study the top twenty of countries that are most transparent, open and equal, you will find all Nordic countries together with The Netherlands, Germany, Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland and some others. And how do these countries fare in global competition overall? Well, you probably guessed it: they are the winners of modern globalisation, unlike the rest of the world. It is time to stop for thought.

More of tomorrow's leaders: top students meeting at leading university.

At this point it is essential to emphasise the increasing role of women in the 'rest of the world' across a wider spectrum of sectors. The 'rest of the world' includes most of the countries in the Americas, Southern and South-Eastern Europe and virtually all of Asia. The area is thus not only made up of developing countries! But in all cases where women gain high influence, societies gain enormously. This exactly confirms my own view: no one gains from oppressing others in either the short or the long run. Men do not gain from keeping women out of influence or oppressing them. The Nordic countries are the living proof of this.

Sabrina Chao: one of today's and tomorrow's leaders: Asian business women on the rise.

Although this author might seem slightly impatient with the slow pace of female leadership in the world, we need to look at the little but highly remarkable leaps forward made by especially Chinese and Japanese businesswomen and scientists. Asian women are waking up, including India and some Muslim countries where the barriers to their rise are the highest. Chinese and Japanese women are now in the vanguard when it comes to promoting progressive leadership and offering higher levels of inclusion in their respective countries.

The current development, however slow and cumbersome, is clearly unstoppable. That is the very good news. Women are on the rise and they represent a broad ethnic diversity. More good news. In terms of both education and professional career-making women or more likely than men to be the pioneers and pattern breakers.

Chanda Kochhar: One of India's top bankers.

Several studies confirm this, from a variety of countries, and to me this is a further confirmation of the importance of female leadership: it breaks down old established barriers, across different cultures.

Above I mentioned how often I see or read about missed opportunities for especially girls and women. This concern has been my primary motive for writing this blog, but behind all that talk about education, career, business leadership, entertainment, etc. lies, in case we forget, the principal issue of equality and dignity for every human being, regardless of gender or race. Women and men together have the responsibility for creating a better and more harmonious, equal world, with equal opportunities for all.

A glimpse into the near future: top business leaders and entrepreneurs in Hong Kong.

But experience tells us, alas, that it is still primarily women who lead the fight for equality and they are also the ones who struggle the most for better opportunities and modern inclusive leadership. So, let this article be a direct call for more active male support in this long struggle for a better and more just world and a contribution to the cause for more female influence and power in tomorrow's world.

Steen Alexander

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