What are the costs of conformity?
I see conformity as continuing to enact a role that is very gendered – never confronting, never pushing back, always saying a yes. If you do not have a sense of who you are and your value, you might find yourself giving so much more and always confirming to others expectations. Then it becomes difficult to break out of it. A woman is more often asked to pick up some extra work, to mentor somebody – all this for no extra compensation or any change in work load. If you start to train people you will keep doing it for the rest of your life!

Women as Leaders: The Paradox of Success Scarcity at the top
For more than 30 years women have been moving into organisations in increasing numbers. They have gradually populated the “windowed” offices and the middle levels of the hierarchies. Women now make up 50 percent of managerial and specialized professional positions in organizations in the United States. Yet, even with these positive trends, the dearth of women in top leadership roles is striking. Catalyst, an US based research organization on “glass ceiling” issues, predicts that while the percentage of women in leadership positions has certainly increased over the years, the trend is disconcertingly slow and that at the current rate of change, the percentage of women in top leadership positions in the largest companies will not exceed 25 per cent until 2020.

Paradox of success
A common explanation for the lack of women in leadership roles is that they simply lack the experience and skills needed to be effective leaders. Yet, recent studies comparing the leadership and managerial performance of

men and women across a wide range of organizations challenge this conclusion and surface a fascinating paradox. These studies suggest that, on the basis of leadership skills alone, men could beneficially learn from women. Numerous studies of leadership skills and competencies among executives, as assessed by the peers, direct reports, and supervisors in 360° performance evaluations, reveal that generally women are rated as well as, or higher than their male counterparts on a majority of critical leadership measures. Women typically score higher in interpersonal, relational, developmental, and communication skills – areas often associated with feminine strengths in the literature on women in management. Interestingly, the studies also show that women are rated favourably with men on a much broader range of leadership competencies. A gender analysis shows that women outperformed men in specific skill areas. Importantly, these include skill areas often perceived as directly linked to the “bottom line,” such as maintaining high productivity, producing high quality work, meeting project deadlines and commitments, and generating new ideas. Researchers conclude that as leaders and managers, “women and men share the same strengths and weaknesses, however, the women are seen as more effective at the positive end of the scale and not as weak at the other end.” Another similar research found that female leaders were rated higher than men in two leadership competency areas. The first, which conforms to gender stereotypes, is what they call “encouraging the heart” – giving feedback and recognizing, rewarding, and motivating individuals and teams. The second competency where women excelled, “modelling the way,” is more challenging of conventional wisdom.