Women in Leadership training in Geneva · canton of GenèveWomen’s leadership in the canton of Geneva: how can authority be assessed without a double standard?
Geneva brings together private banks, international organisations, watch brands and commodity trading houses within a small area, with highly multicultural teams working in French and English. For SHR’s “Women’s Leadership” programme, this context raises a precise question: how can appropriate authority be distinguished from social expectations of the woman exercising it?
What the literature establishes
Alice H. Eagly and Steven J. Karau (2002, Psychological Review) propose a role congruity theory supported by a synthesis of research on prejudice towards female leaders. A perceived mismatch between expectations associated with women and those associated with leadership can disadvantage women both in gaining leadership roles and in assessments of their leadership behaviour. This is an explanatory framework for social judgements, not an account of an intrinsic difference in competence.
The mechanism: recognised competence, penalised behaviour
Laurie A. Rudman and Peter Glick (2001, Journal of Social Issues) show, in experimental selection settings, that assertive female candidates can face a penalty related to their perceived social skills. Recognising their competence is therefore not necessarily enough to ensure a favourable assessment of their candidacy. The mechanism concerns prescriptive expectations: not only what a woman is assumed to be like, but how she is expected to behave.
The hasty conclusion: teach women to be more accommodating
One might conclude that training should primarily teach women to soften their authority. That would turn an evaluation problem into an individual obligation to adapt, while potentially reinforcing the expectations that produce it. Practising clear decision-making, reasoned explanations and listening to objections remains relevant, provided these requirements apply to everyone in a position of responsibility. (our executive and employee training programmes)
The limits: neither a Geneva diagnosis nor a universal formula
These studies do not measure how frequently such biases occur in Geneva’s businesses and institutions, and experimental selection does not reproduce an ongoing working relationship. In a multilingual team, an impression of firmness may also depend on language proficiency, professional conventions or hierarchical position. These factors need to be examined rather than automatically labelling every negative assessment as gender bias.
A practical check in Genève
One possible application within the SHR programme would be to simulate, first in French and then in English, a contested decision in a Geneva private bank, international organisation, watchmaking business or commodity trading company; these scenarios would be explicitly hypothetical. Before the exercise, participants would define the same criteria for everyone: an explicit decision, arguments grounded in the case and a response to objections. Across an initial and a second simulation, they would record the proportion of evaluation comments supported by a specific behaviour rather than a personal label such as “bossy” or “unfriendly”. This comparison would check changes in evaluation practice, without claiming on its own to demonstrate a reduction in discrimination. To go further: explore the Women in Leadership training in Geneva in the canton of Geneva, or browse our executive and employee training programmes in Switzerland.
In pictures: Women in Leadership in Geneva
- women in leadership
- Geneva
- research
- training geneva