Women in Leadership: Metaphors of Barriers and the Power of Stereotypes

Abstract Although gender-based barriers to leadership have declined over time, women remain substantially underrepresented in leadership positions. To explain this persistent gender gap in leadership, various metaphors were developed to capture the barriers faced by women. This review critically examines these metaphors, identifies their limitations, and argues for a more holistic alternative that better captures the complexity and variability of gender barriers across different contexts. The review further evaluates dominant explanations for the gender gap in leadership, including human capital differences, biological arguments, and gender stereotypes. The paper shows that the investment in human capital alone does not guarantee gender equality in leadership. Biological arguments, similarly, provide simplistic explanations and fail to address how biological differences interact with ecological and social environments. This paper stresses that gender stereotypes offer the most compelling explanation for the gender gap in leadership, yet these stereotypes are not universal as gender expectations vary across cultures. The review also provides an overview of research comparing how women and men differ in leadership and suggests that differences between them are generally small and highly context-dependent; women show a slight tendency toward more democratic and transformational styles. The paper emphasizes that these patterns are not universal as they are strongly shaped by gender stereotypes and cultural norms, which vary across different contexts. By integrating these strands of literature, this review highlights the limits of single metaphors and simplistic explanations and highlights the need for multi-level approaches to gender and leadership. The paper suggests that leadership development and policy efforts need to move beyond universal solutions and instead design interventions that respond to specific cultural and organizational conditions. To support such interventions, future research should adopt cross-cultural perspectives to examine how gender stereotypes operate across different career stages and contexts.