Are Women Better Leaders?
As more rise to positions of power, the evidence is intriguing
Have we indeed entered a brave new world where women will prove to be more effective leaders than men? Will they change the pictures in our heads of what a leader should look and act like? Will we discover that men become better leaders if they adopt some of the traits of women-- and that, vice versa, the best female leaders, like Britain's Margaret Thatcher, have some masculine traits, too?
Or is all this talk about women as leaders premature? Is the real issue for women the same as it has always been? Are there still so many barriers in their way that they can't claim an equal place in the arena? After all, at the very time many are celebrating the increase in the number of women in the House and Senate (to 13 percent and 14 percent, respectively), in Germany, the Netherlands, and the Scandinavian countries, women hold more than 25 percent of seats in the lower houses of parliament.
U.S. News welcomes your views in this growing debate. The magazine is devoting a special public forum to the subject, "Do Women Make Better Leaders?" It will be held in New York City on February 16 at the Newseum. Please join us. As in previous World at Large events, the magazine invites you to send us your thoughts by way of letters and E-mail. You may reach us at Letters@usnews.com. We look forward to publishing some of this correspondence in these pages. Earlier World at Large topics have prompted a lively response. We hope this will afford you an opportunity to speak out again on a subject of importance to the country. -The Editors
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