According to a survey by the Leadership Development Centre, New Zealand, being ‘resilient’ is a crucial leadership characteristic, vital for greater efficiency at work. Interestingly, in the survey, female leaders rated consistently higher than their male counterparts in all Leadership Success Profile areas—‘achieving ambitious goals’, ‘enhancing team performance’, ‘honesty and courage’, etc. Except for one: resilience.
Worryingly, many other studies worldwide conclude that women tend to be less resilient, more often than not. And the low scores are typically triggered by self-doubt, and indecisiveness. In fact, a report published by The Resilience Institute, Europe, goes on to add that women also fared lower on other factors that “underpin resiliency”, like impulse control and tactical calm.
Sadly, given the social biases and gender-based conflicts that exist in the professional world, it is an ineluctable necessity for women to be resilient and tenacious, if they wish to be successful. Take, for instance, the ‘pecking order’ here, says in an interview to , this order is largely based on unconscious biases, and determines the treatment of candidates—who may be considered first for a promotion, whose ideas may be given more weightage, etc. The order, according to Lynn, is: first, white men; second, men of colour; then, white women; and lastly, women of colour. This gender divide stands true for India, too—a number of surveys show that men employees are favoured over women, in most aspects.
