In one of the interactions I always thoroughly enjoy having with a certain colleague because she is so in-depth and insightful, we found ourselves discussing women in leadership and what impact their gender had on the quality and effectiveness of their contributions… And I remember saying to myself, “Here we go again! I am not intimidated by another’s gender in the execution of my duties in leadership. Period.”

My signature contribution has been that I feel privileged to have been raised not believing in inequality that is inspired by gender and the attributes associated with it. In other words, the fact that I am of a particular gender does not define my leadership style or qualities.

This time, I had to do much more thinking than thanking God for blessing me with the attitude necessary to see gender as a nothing but difference in making.

So, as we are all wonderfully and fearfully made, there are times when as human beings, we choose to depart from our good foundations and delve into the horrible realm of negative stereotyping.

I felt a gentleness nudge my thinking … empathy for the negative stereotyping, as I began to see that it was an act of succumbing to those forces that are always fighting genuine effort towards doing something well. A cry for help, so to speak.

Using gender as the greatest qualification for effective leadership is a misnomer but it is also a sign that assistance may be required to recalibrate the mind to positivity and progress. Seeing things for what they truly are and using merit as the major qualification is the first step to healing ourselves from negative gender stereotyping when it comes to assessment of capability and competence.

What do you think?