HOW WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP DESCRIBE THEIR RISE TO LEADERSHIP

The significance of female marginalization and inclusion in leadership decision making has been
increasingly a topic of deliberation. Women and men share typical characteristics such as
knowledge, educational qualification, expertise, socioeconomic status, yet women are
continuously marginalized. The bias that women face because of their gender is a lot more
pronounced in countries where the traditional roles of the sexes are defined rigidly. Due to these
strict gender roles, women find it hard to get to the positions of leadership in organizations.
Gender discrimination against women in the workplace is a common issue that women around
the world face. Leadership becomes almost impossible for women in countries, especially in the
African region, where women become dependent on their partners, and they have to live in any
circumstances that are made available to them. Although the number of working women is
increasing in these regions, these women still face workplace discrimination almost daily. The
purpose of this case study is to understand how women in leadership describe their rise to
leadership in Nigeria. The theory guiding this study is Heilman's (1983) lack of fit model. This is
the most well-known theory that concentrates on unfairness against women leaders. Qualitative
method was used in this research because of its distinctive methodological traditions of inquiry
that explores a human socio problem. Participants were Nigerian women in leadership positions.
Interviews were carried out with participants; themes were aligned for multiple participants such
education, culture, sexuality as well as authentic leadership.