Are You a Leader? Or Are You a Female Leader?

As I have been writing a lot about women’s issues, I am a lot more aware of labeling women as “women leaders” or “female CEOs.” It seems that some women embrace being called out as a woman in leadership and others cringe at it. I thought I’d try to understand other’s perspectives and what makes one person embrace the label and others shun it.

First, there is the issue of which noun to use: woman or female. We would never say someone is a man leader, but we regularly use “woman leader.” Male leader sounds better, but calling a woman a female leader sometimes sounds off. If there are any grammarians out there who can tell me which is correct and why, I’d love to know. But it really is an example of how fraught labeling leaders/CEOs/presidents/any occupation with a woman/female modifier can be.

If you look into the development of what should be a fairly innocuous tool, the emoji, the issues with modifiers become obvious and the gender bias inherent in so much technology becomes clear. When Unicode (the keepers of emoji code) began, they didn’t specify the gender for characters. For example, “doctor” wasn’t identified as “man doctor” or “male doctor,” however, each individual platform that used the code (think your phone or Twitter) would determine what that gender-neutral doctor was supposed to look like, and as you can predict, doctor was shown as a man. Only in 2016 did Unicode create both a male and female of each character. To this day, I have seen emojis I place in my newsletter separated out to have a picture and then the ♀ sign added, causing me great frustration. 

I know more than one woman who cringes when she is called out as the only female in her firm. I have always worked in male-dominated industries and I was often identified as such. But I’ve always had the mindset that if you are a successful woman, you’ve likely had to work harder than the men surrounding you to get there. Laura Wilbanks the CMO for Thomson Reuters, notes that being identified as a woman puts in question if she was hired because of her skills or because she was the best candidate. She says, “With all these changes, do we still need to use the label "female leader" – or is it becoming more of a hindrance than a help to those of us who are defined as one?” Levi’s inspiring new campaign amplifies the problems of being labeled and makes it feel demeaning to add “woman” in front of our occupations. There are valid concerns that labeling takes away from our achievements.

There are many leaders who have come to terms with having the label. Katrina Lake, CEO of Stitch Fix also initially railed against the label of “woman” CEO, but has since changed her mind. She says, "Showing examples of successful female CEOs is so important. So, I came around to being at a place where I really embraced it." Jen Grant, the new CEO of Turbo Systems agrees and says, “I have a responsibility to stand up and be counted. Does it mean an extra burden on me to speak more often and to talk about being a woman CEO? You bet it does. But I do it for all the women out there who need to see that it’s possible, and for all the men that need to see it too.” 

So should women embrace being a woman leader? I have no doubt women ARE the best for the job in most situations, but until there is gender parity, I hope they will stand up and be seen as powerful women leaders. It's not fair, but it is important to honor the women who paved the way before us and be examples for the women who will come after us. It's a burden, but in embracing it we recognize the women who did so much of the hard work before us. Women like Katherine Johnson, who would have been lost to history if it weren’t for Margot Lee Shetterly bringing her story to light in Hidden Figures. Women like Barbara Walters, who plowed through massive amounts of sexism to become the well-respected journalist she is. And those unnamed women who fought for the things we take for granted like keeping the money we earn and wearing pants. 

As with many issues, I don’t think there is a right or wrong, but I am definitely leaning toward embracing the “woman/female” label. In my eyes, adding that label does not make you less than others in the same position, but actually makes you more than. For the powerful women who don’t want the woman/female modifier, I hear you and respect you and I will always call you out first as a CEO and second as a female CEO. That feels right for me. What feels right for you?

“i stand

on the sacrifices

of a million women before me

thinking

what can i do

to make this mountain taller

so the women after me

can see farther

- legacy”

― Rupi Kaur, The Sun and Her Flowers