Can female leaders be true to themselves?

Gender differences can be used to either positive or negative effect. Women, in particular, are prone to being stereotyped according to differences- albeit usually not the ones they would usually choose. Partly, this is because of there are fewer women than men in management positions. According to research in social psychology, if a groups representation falls below 20% of a given society, then it is going to be subjected to stereotyping whether it likes it or not. For women, this may mean being typecast as 'helper', 'nuturer' or 'seductress'- roles that may prevent them from defining their own differences.
In earlier research, we discovered that many women, especially women in their fifties try to avoid this dynamic by disappearing. They try to make themselves invisible. They wear clothes that disguise them; they try to blend in with men by talking tough. That's certainly a way to avoid negative stereotyping, but the problem is that it reduces a woman's chances of being seen as a potential leader. She's not promoting her real self and differences. Another response to negative stereo typing is to collectively resist it -- for example by mounting a campaign that promotes the rights, opportunities and even the number of woman in the workplace. But on a day-to-day basis, survival is often all woman have time for, therefore making it impossible for them to organize themselves formally.
A third response that emerged in our research was that woman play into the stereo typing to personal advantage. Some woman, for example, knowingly play the role of nuturer at work, but they do it with such wit and skill that they are able to benefit from it. The cost of such strategy? it further harmful stereotypes and continues to limit oppertunities for other women to communicate their genuine personal differences.

-Robert Goffee & Gareth Jones ( HBR- oct 2000)


It is not just women in management, it is all women who get the limelight. This is why I hate
Aishwarya Rai with so much venom.