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This paper aims to contribute to the growing body of research on health-care leadership by demonstrating the value of dyads and triads in strengthening capabilities of health-care settings and providing action pathways to accelerate gender parity in senior health-care positions.

The paper reviews the evidence that when single-leadership models are used and women are under-represented in leadership, the health-care industry may miss out on opportunities to increase efficiency and quality of care. Next, the paper describes a co-leadership model with distinct and overlapping roles, which promotes women’s participation and inspires administrative and clinical leaders to collaborate and achieve optimal performance.

The dyad as the enabling track for women in health-care leadership creates opportunities for health-care systems to bridge the gender gap in senior positions as well as improve the delivery of cost-effective quality care.

The inclusive co-leadership model with distinct and overlapping roles is a promising pathway for increasing health-care system efficiency and for promoting women to senior roles by tapping into the leadership skills and expertise that women bring to these roles.

The current paper demonstrates the dual effects of using co-leadership in senior health-care positions and fixing the gender imbalance. It has significant implications for advancing similar pathways in other industries as a means for accelerating gender parity in senior management.

Answering the call for research that seeks to bridge theory and practice for the advancement of social justice, this chapter presents a creative collaboration between a social equity scholar and an active serviceman in the Canadian Army. Within a theoretical framework of leadership for social justice, we will draw on the literature as it specifically relates to women leaders and the potential of a learning leadership to bring about a paradigmatic shift in power and politics. Particularly attentive to the challenges for women leaders in male-dominated fields, this chapter will present Golda Meir as an exemplar.

The purpose of this paper is to examine female leaders' attitudes toward demand-side strategies to close the gender-leadership gap and discuss implications for organizations.

This article describes the process of knowledge co-creation that took place using an engaged scholarship epistemology over 23 interviews with North American women in senior leadership roles.

Five key themes related to women leaders' attitudes toward demand-side strategies are discussed. Some felt uncertain or opposed toward these strategies, whereas others supported them. Support for these strategies was dependent on perceptions of backlash regarding the implementation of these strategies and the participants' career stage. Finally, participants acknowledged that demand-side strategies are insufficient in isolation and require additional organizational supports.

These findings enhance our understanding and provide theoretical refinement of the mechanisms that drive female leaders' reactions to demand-side strategies to close the gender-leadership gap.

Participants advocated for certain practices to be considered when organizations contemplate the adoption of demand-side strategies. Importantly, participants advocated that the implementation of demand-side strategies would be insufficient unless organizations encourage greater dialogue regarding the gender-leadership gap, that top management support more gender inclusive leadership, and that male colleagues act as allies for women in leadership.

This article extends past research and theory by integrating the pragmatic perspectives of successful female leaders with previous empirical evidence to illustrate different reactions to demand-side strategies and ways for organizations to manage those in their efforts to close the gender-leadership gap.

This issue is a selected bibliography covering the subject of leadership.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how multinational corporations’ (MNCs’) women leaders in South Korea (Korea) have overcome career challenges in the process of becoming CEOs. The two guiding questions for this study included: what career challenges have MNCs’ women leaders in Korea faced to become CEOs? How have they overcome their career challenges?

The authors used a basic qualitative research design, the goal of which is to understand how people make sense of their lives and experiences. Qualitative data were collected by semi-structured interviews with 15 women CEOs at MNCs in Korea to capture their lived experiences (challenges and strategies) in their careers. The authors used NVivo 11, a qualitative data analysis software, to analyze the interview data.

From data analysis, the authors identified five themes including: becoming a CEO, key success factors, MNC culture, career challenges and career development strategies. The authors found that in the process of becoming CEOs, 15 women leaders faced career challenges that are largely generated by traditional culture, work stress and work–life balance. The authors also found that the women leaders became CEOs through diverse on-the-job experiences (e.g. marketing and sales) and positions (e.g. managers, senior managers and regional directors) with organizational support (e.g. supervisor support).

Given research on organizational support for leadership, human resource practices and working conditions, this study’s findings have qualitatively confirmed the importance of organizational support for women CEOs’ career success. For theory building in women in leadership, the authors suggest that researchers investigate the complex process of becoming women CEOs, including their early experiences in their career in tandem with family background, organizational climate and national culture.

The study findings on women CEOs’ career strategies can be used as a reference for women in the leadership pipeline who aspire to take leadership positions in organizations. A lack of role models or mentors for women leaders is one of the reasons why women give up on their career. Learning career strategies (e.g. global development programs, mentoring and networks) that women CEOs have employed to overcome their career challenges can help women in the leadership pipeline from their early career on.

The authors found that both internal and external factors combined were instrumental in the women CEOs’ career success. What stood out from this study was that the women’s desirable personality attributes might not have materialized without the MNC culture that has been supportive for these women. The women CEOs shared their company’s values and philosophy that is based on gender equality, received supervisor support that is crucial for their career success, experienced diverse jobs and positions along the way and were recognized for their work ethic. Given research on women leaders conducted largely in western contexts, this qualitative study on the lived experiences of women CEOs in MNCs contributes to emerging non-western research by capturing the importance of culture that is uniquely Korean.

This research‐based article explains why top women leaders still feel like outsiders in their organizations, and identifies strategies for retaining and supporting women in leadership today.

The author conducted research through individual interviews with 40 successful women – COOs, VPs, directors, and senior managers – who have broken through the “glass ceiling.” These women represented industries including pharmaceuticals, health care, manufacturing, high tech, and higher education in the USA and Europe. By identifying the reasons for these leaders' dissatisfaction, I hoped to help stop the exodus of successful women from their organizations by helping them find greater satisfaction in the leadership roles they have achieved and by helping organizations to change in ways that will make a difference.

The main impetus for women leaders' dissatisfaction is that they do not feel fully integrated as leaders. This dissatisfaction derives from not fitting in as equals in the leadership ranks, a lack of networks, and low social capital experienced by these women leaders. The article calls for a new corporate culture based on integration rather than inclusion.

The article is based on a qualitative research study conducted using one‐on‐one interview methodology. It is not statistically significant.

The article discusses specific strategies for retaining and developing women leaders to help to solve the current critical gap in leadership. These include reducing isolation, developing networking opportunities and creating a culture of integration – critical to retaining women at the top. Individual, team and group coaching can be a successful and cost‐effective solution.

Most research on women's leadership focuses on famous women leaders and CEOs or is conducted as survey research, but this article discusses leadership from the personal perspective of “ordinary women” who have made it to the top.

Whereas most societal commentators continue to review the historical patterns of men’s leadership in search of models for 21st-century success, few have begun to recognize, let alone appreciate, the equivalent patterns of women’s leadership and the future contributions that women could potentially make as leaders. What could and are women bringing to society as global leaders? Why at this moment in history is there such a marked increase in the number of women leaders? Are we entering an era in which both male and female leaders will shape history, both symbolically and in reality? And if so, will we discover that women, on average, lead in different ways than men, or will we learn that role (global leader) explains more than gender? This chapter reveals the accelerating trends of women joining men in senior leadership positions, establishes the relationship of women leaders to our overall understanding of global leadership, and sets forth an agenda to accomplish much needed research and understanding.

The present study aims at contributing to the knowledge of organizational communication and cross‐cultural female leadership by examining conflict management strategies between Taiwanese female presidents and their American counterparts in Rotary Clubs.

Data were collected through field observations and 25 in‐depth interviews with 14 Taiwanese female presidents and 11 American female presidents in Rotary Clubs. Theme analysis of the interpretive method was used in this research.

This study revealed that the female presidents in both cultures applied obliging and integrating strategies to handle management conflicts. Yet, due to the interference of past presidents, the Taiwanese women leaders are more likely to follow the traditional norms whereas women leaders in the United States tend to employ new approaches and adopt new conflict management strategies in different situations.

This study has focused on exploring the conflict management strategies of only the female presidents in the Rotary Clubs in Taiwan and the USA rather than male presidents. There may be differences in conflict management between genders.

The application of conflict management strategies may be determined by the factors of face, in‐group relationships, and roles of the invited third party for Taiwanese subjects whereas American subjects usually adopt appropriate strategies according to the nature of the conflicts. That is, the Taiwanese female leaders would endeavor to keep relationships positive or/and keep positive relationships with their members while the American female leaders would strive do things right or/and do the right things for their conflict strategy application.

As the first study of its kind, this study fills a research gap by expanding female conflict management studies to cross‐cultural contexts, thus contributing to the body of human knowledge of cross‐cultural leadership in non‐profit organizations.

Sweden, as a country based on extremely high secular and self-expression values, serve as an example that somewhat differ from other countries internationally, when it comes to educational leadership curriculum. The chapter takes its starting point at the governmental decision for Swedish universities to gender-mainstream their organisations, something that affects the educational leadership curriculum. To be able to discuss this, I present three research studies on gendering leader identity development processes and gender equality strategies in the Swedish higher education setting. In a longitudinal study of the process of leader identity development, the main result was the emergence of a gendering process in the discourse on academic leadership. At the end of the leadership assignment period, leader identity was described in differing terms at subject positions held by women and men, respectively. In a separate study on female heads of research-heavy departments, three conflicting subject positions appeared that showed different strategies when leaders were of the female sex: (a) a gender-conscious position, (b) a gender-neutral or gender-unconscious position and (c) a position of sex discrimination experience. In a third, large national study, based on horizontal analysis of gender equality in Swedish higher education institutions (HEIs), was found that universities internally consist of different worlds when it comes to the possibility of making academic careers and in how male- and female-dominated academic disciplines explain gender inequality and strategies to handle this. Results from these studies will be discussed, in light of the striving for (gender) equal and just organisations, since gender equality is an important aspect of Swedish educational leadership curriculum.

The purpose of this paper is to present multiple case studies of women in leadership roles in India with a view to identifying inhibitors, facilitators and the strategies adopted by them to mitigate the challenges in their odyssey to these positions. The paper contributes to the pivotal subject of under-representation of women in apex positions, which has garnered the attention of researchers in recent years grappling with the identification of the underlying causes. Thus, with a view to narrowing the gender gap in leadership positions, a greater understanding of this phenomenon is called for.

The paper adopts exploratory case study method using multiple case studies. Empirical data were gathered using in-depth semi-structured interviews and personality test (NEO FFI) from women in leadership positions. The qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis.

The analysis of data has led to the identification of challenges faced by the women that were categorised as personal, professional, organisational and social issues. Further, six themes emerged as the strategies adopted by the women leaders to overcome the challenges. The paper also highlights the critical social, behavioural and organisational facilitators that played an important role in their leadership journey. The paper also includes context-specific findings of women leaders from Indian industry.

The paper would have relevance for researchers and practitioners in the field of gender diversity, leadership, organisational behaviour and human resource management. The findings of this paper can be leveraged by organisations to retain and manage female talent, which is a focal area in the present dynamic business environment, when a need for gender diversity is widely acknowledged by the top management in organisations. The exploratory case studies provide vistas for gender-based context-specific and cross-cultural research on the challenges faced by women executives in their leadership journey and the strategies adopted to mitigate these.

Though a great deal has been written about the barriers to women’s career advancement, less is known about the facilitators of women’s advancement. Also, women in the Asian context face unique challenges which present a major problem for multinational companies whose hopes for growth are pinned on emerging markets. The paper has identified new emergent themes, which have not been mentioned in the extant literature nationally or globally. The findings provide inputs to companies to adopt policies and practices to facilitate gender equality in leadership. The paper bridges the knowledge gap and makes conceptual contributions for future research.