How the possible differences between male and female regarding to the leadership style can contribute to the explanation of the low number of female managers in top positions

Abstract: The problem for women in the labour market has been and is still being widely treated from different disciplines, there are still many gaps linked to it. Although the equality between genders has simultaneously risen, gender inequality becomes especially evident in top management positions. This fact attracted our attention and motivated us to analyse the women’s situation in the management in Spanish companies. The masculine man has developed different theories linked to organizations. But when the society and the organization change, that man discovers that his recipe book is not worth nothing anymore. For instance, values like hierarchical organization, aggressiveness, competitively, individualism, etc. In brief, all attributes that women called: “macho man”. This paper investigates the barriers that women have to overcome in order to achieve the senior positions, as well as, the identification of the traditional leadership style to the masculine stereotype. As consequence, we have had in mind the progressive implantation of a new organizational culture, the values that belong to the feminine stereotype (group orientation, emotion, cooperation, etc). Therefore, the success leadership is no longer linked to the masculine stereotype. The practical method involves the development of semi structure interviews to men and women in top managerial positions in order to analyse if both men and women follow their gender stereotypes, and therefore, they have different leadership styles according to gender. Due to this fact, companies should adapt the idea of a pluricultural style in order to get organizational culture more flexible.