Leadership has been characterized as “activity aimed at bringing about change in an organization or social system to improve people’s lives” (Astin & Leland, 1991, p.7). Such responsibility suggests that leaders are charged with an enormous burden to effect organizational and social change.

People associate women and men with different traits and link men with most of the traits that connote leadership and associate women with communal qualities, which convey a concern for the compassionate treatment of other, on the other hand men are associated with agentic qualities which convey assertion and control.

Women have had to lead from the foot of the table because of what society has allowed in terms of authority. When you lead from the foot of the table, you have to gain trust and get people together. You have to collaborate to get decisions made. This is actually the way our organizations and our country need to be led now.

Good leadership—leadership that serves both women and men, poor and rich, and the powerless and powerful—is inclusive, participatory, and horizontal. Just as there is no single set of qualities or characteristics that define a leader, there is no single approach to conveying good leadership.

When women leaders bring their voices, vision and leadership to the table alongside men, the debate is more robust and the policy is more inclusive and sustainable. Women bring in personal passions, convictions, energies, and strengths to their innovative efforts and exercise of leadership. There are Women leaders who in spite of all the odds have risen and have been a source of inspiration to generations of women

When women leaders bring their voices, vision and leadership to the table alongside men, the debate is more robust and the policy is more inclusive and sustainable. Women bring in personal passions, convictions, energies, and strengths to their innovative efforts and exercise of leadership. There are Women leaders who in spite of all the odds have risen and have been a source of inspiration to generations of women

Research about women’s leadership demonstrates that most sectors continue to move at a glacial pace in terms of bringing women into the highest positions. This is especially true in fields that offer significant financial compensation. Among Fortune 500 companies, only 2% of CEOs are women. Slowly yet steadily women are emerging into leadership roles in all societal spheres.

There are a variety of obstacles that combine to impede women's progress into a leadership position. Which sometimes include: lingering prejudice, a resistance to female leadership due to gender stereotyping, women's tendency towards transformational leadership styles, family commitments and misperceptions of the effects of this, and a lack of time for and access to networks for career growth.

Today there is an extensive and critical need to identify and nurture women with leadership qualities. It’s high time we focus our energies and resources in curbing the factors that deter the growth of women into leadership positions. There are various organizational frameworks and structures in place to foster women leaders but success is still eluding us as a nation as we are not focused on INCLUSIVENESS.