AFRICAN WOMEN AS GLOBAL LEADERS: CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS

The women in traditional African societies suffered discrimination and prejudice in their quest to participate in leadership. This paper examined the attitude of modern Africans towards allowing female equal access as their male counterparts to leadership positions in global organisations. The study was conducted among 100 part time students of a tertiary institution who worked under male and female leaders. The participants were purposeivey selected into a quasi-experimental group. They were asked to express a preference between a male leader and a female leader assuming they were the ones to decide who to hire to fill positions of CEOs in two simulated global organisations. They were also requested to rate their female or male leaders using Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). The result of the study revealed that women were still unfavourably perceived as fit for leadership positions. The reasons for the negative perception towards women participation in leadership was discussed, the qualities that make African women good leaders were analysed, and efforts that can be made to increase women’s leadership participation in Africa were also suggested.