ABSTRACT
Why are there fewer women in formal leadership positions than expected, even today? While women have achieved much in the last few decades, they still hold fewer leadership positions than men in labour unions, business, government and non-profit organisations (Eagly and Carli 2007; Kaminski and Yakura 2008; Ledwith et al. 1990; Milkman 2007). This holds after more than two generations of striving (since the ‘second wave’ of feminism began in the 1950s) by highly talented, achievement-oriented women, and the passing of equal opportunity legislation in many developed nations to prevent such inequities. Beck and Beck-Gernsheim (2002: 56) refer to this situation as ‘no longer’ what it was, when women focused their lives and identities on care-giving and support of others, but ‘not yet’ what women would hope to accomplish in environments free from bias.
