Female Managers vs Male Managers

While certainly equal in aptitude and ability, it’s widely acknowledged that there are certain personality differences between men and women. As we already know, our personality influences our working styles and relationships – but how does this all come into play in managerial roles? More specifically, how to female managers compare to their male counterparts?

To find out, the psychometrics team here at Good&Co analyzed the personalities and management styles of female managers working across a wide range of industries. We uncovered some fascinating differences in terms of how each gender interacts with their employees and influences their team.

Female Managers vs. Male Managers: Trait Analysis

A somewhat surprising finding was that, compared to men, female managers tend to have higher levels of both empathy and authority. This may at first appear contradictory – but it doesn’t have to be.

Whilst research into management styles generally distinguishes between the more empathic, encouraging approach and the more authoritative, punitive approach, it seems that many women have found a way to strike a balance between both of these aspects.

This finding suggests that women are more likely to be nurturing in their management style, showing understanding and an ability to appreciate the perspectives of different team members, whilst still maintaining a high level of authority.

Interestingly, however, women scored lower than men on levels of social confidence and assertiveness: traits that one might expect to tie in with authority. It may be that the way in which female managers display authority differs to what we ‘traditionally’ imagine as an authoritative person; for example, female managers are more likely to lead by example than their male counterparts.

No surprise: women are less likely to pursue recognition at work.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, female managers show a lower desire to seek power ‘for power’s sake’ compared to men. It seems that, rather than pursuing status and recognition, female managers are more inclined to lead with their conscience, focussing on providing support and treating all team members fairly.

Our findings support previous research that found that female managers are more likely to prioritize helping team members to work to their full potential, through regularly checking in with their progress, providing helpful feedback and praising good performance.

Female managers tend to be more level-headed in their work style.

Compared to male managers, women tend to be more creative and open-minded. They are likely to consider all aspects of any situation or decision to be made, including interpersonal and emotional factors that are sometimes overlooked or disregarded. Again, this would appear to link to their higher levels of empathy.

Female managers also seem to be more dutiful and methodical in their approach to working, making them a bit more level-headed. This fits with the findings that women managers are also less motivated by thrill-seeking than men, and more likely to enter an engaged state of ‘flow’ whilst working on a task.

Taking this in combination with their creativity, it seems that women adopt a generally open-minded, yet focussed, thinking style as managers.

Unfortunately, women are likely to feel additional pressure to prove themselves as leaders, resulting in higher levels of anxiety compared to men.

Despite all of these positive managerial characteristics, female managers are, unfortunately, more prone to insecurity, low self-esteem, depression and anxiety than their male counterparts. One factor likely to contribute to this is women’s greater concern over how they are perceived as managers compared to men.

Despite a gradual increase in the number of female managers, it is unfortunately still common for managerial traits to be associated more with men than women (even if only implicitly). As a result, female managers are likely to feel the need to prove themselves, resulting in additional pressure.

Can female managers help boost employee engagement?

Ultimately, research shows that female managers can have a positive impact on employee engagement. Our data shows that women tend to be highly engaged managers, aligning well with Gallup’s recent finding that employees find female managers more engaging than their male counterparts.

The importance of engaging management can’t be understated, given that managers are thought to be responsible for at least 70% of their employees’ engagement levels. And, as we’re already aware, higher employee engagement levels result in a range of benefits, including increased productivity, reduced healthcare costs, higher revenue, and reduced absenteeism.