Gender difference theories
As outlined in the previous section, all the early leadership studies developed theories
which emanated from the Great Man theory. Thus, the theories described men and
male leaders. This had the effect of excluding women from being seen in the role of a
leader. At this time, men and women were considered to have very different
behaviours, skills, and attitudes, and these ‘‘differences’’ were thought to handicap
women in their career advancement (Morrison and Von Glinow, 1990).
In the 1970s, a literature on gender differences began to be published that set out to
explore the extent of differences in men’s and women’s behaviour. This research into
gender differences had at its base a desire to understand whether males and females
differed on a variety of traits and behaviours because of their biological determination,
the implication being that differences in behaviour between men and women are innate
or acquired from very early socialisation. At this time, the perspective seemed to be
that women were different to men and that difference appeared to be equated with
deficiency (Fagenson, 1990).