There is a world-wide controversial issue regarding women in the workforce and their leadership roles. Women in leadership roles have been an ongoing issue for centuries. There are numerous factors that play a part in the struggle of women working and moving up into leadership and management positions for example: the old era versus the new, perceptions, difference in leadership styles and ignorance. Are women still viewed differently than men? Women today have more presence and are more professional than even men. In the United States alone there are women governors, senators, CEO's of large corporations and presidents of companies. As times change leaders are expected to evolve and more opportunity for women will be available. Gender restrictions have dramatically reduced, giving women the opportunity to enter into other leadership roles that were not previously available or considered possible. Transactional and Transformational leadership styles have contributed to the awareness and acceptance of women in management and leadership. Research and theories on leadership in earlier times excluded women and strongly expressed how women were not a good fit in leadership positions. Recent studies proved completely the opposite. In earlier periods leadership was not about the skills and style, but on inheritance, usurpation and appointment. All though we are in a different era, some of these traits have continued to exist.
The data used is from five different case studies and articles written by researchers on how difficult and likely it is for women to move up into management and leadership positions: (1) Has perceptions of the appropriateness of women in management and leadership roles changed? (2) How has women and leadership changed in this new era? (3) Have we viewed women's leadership through a rhetorical lens? (4) What are the gender differences in academic careers? (5) How are Black and Latina women affecting the labor movement? Audiences targeted in these studies were women in academic careers as well as in other sectors, black, Latina women and women in the workforce.
