ABSTRACT
In an Atlantic Monthly article titled “The End of Men,” Rozin (2010) described a new type of “alpha woman”and announced the decline of dominant men. Women, she argued, are smarter and more resourceful than men. Although women are not now as well represented as men in top leadership positions, Rozin acknowledged, they are climbing rapidly and doing extremely well as leaders. This prominently published article is a recent instance of a trend that has been out there on the cultural edge since the beginning of the twenty-first century: the depiction of women as powerful and competent leaders. As an earlier example, consider the following statement appearing in Business Week: “After years of analyzing what makes leaders most effective and figuring out who’s got the Right Stuff, management gurus now know how to boost the odds of getting a great executive: Hire a female” (Sharpe, 2000, p. 74). Business Week followed along with a cover story on the new gender gap, stating, “Men could become losers in a global economy that values mental power over might”(Conlin, 2003, p. 78).
