Stop promoting women (who aren't me) part 1

“We need to get more women into leadership.”

As a woman increasingly stepping into leadership and embracing power, I wholeheartedly endorse affirmative action for me, specifically.

I’ll take all the help I can get. But I can’t wholeheartedly embrace the idea that there’s something inherent to all or most women that makes us necessarily better leaders than men. It seems like a reverse sexism to me. A misandry, even.

I honestly do not care what my leaders are packing in terms of genitals or chromosomes. I care deeply about my leaders’ character, compassion, and competence. I think it’s deeply stupid to consider gender 99.9% of the time.

However, despite my best efforts, gender, and thus sexism, continue to exist. Research indicates that maybe decision-makers should consider gender. Organizations with a greater percentage of women in power tend to outperform organizations with more male-heavy leadership.

Here’s what I sought to understand: To what extent can an organization improve performance merely by replacing a few men at the top with women?

Here’s what I found.