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Alice Eagly

Even as more women gain more powerful leader roles, cultural gender continues to make leadership more challenging for women than men. Nevertheless, researchers are inquiring how and why the presence of women may affect group and organizational outcomes. The most consequential differences in female and male leaders pertain to women's typically more participative and relational leader behaviors and their more compassionate, other-oriented, and egalitarian attitudes and values. When women leaders display these attributes, groups and organizations may be more effective under some conditions and gravitate toward new goals.