Women and men in senior management – Key recurring themes and questions

Abstract

Nowadays, questions on the low female participation in senior management are considered and analysed not only within the academic community, but are also discussed and debated by politicians and business representatives. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the key issues and possible approaches to the topic. In the first part, the author focuses on leadership styles: contemporary issues, theoretical considerations and empirical research results. Based on the findings that support the comparative advantages of diverse leadership teams, the author deals with the recommendations on the optimal gender composition of senior management teams. As empirical data are not in line with the recommendations, the author draws attention to the challenges related to talent recognition in the case of potential women leaders and the unequal opportunities in manager selection, such as important factors of low female representation in senior management. Academic articles on terminology, alternative values, special contributions, meritocracy and the social and cultural aspects of unequal opportunities are covered in order to highlight the main factors of the topics discussed.