Women Rising in Corporate Ranks

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Still, being better bosses isn't translating into more success for women, as they are still largely under represented in management positions. For the past several years Catalyst Canada, a research and advisory organization, has been tracking women in management positions.

As part of their 2001 census, Catalyst looked at women as board members of the Financial Post 500 companies in Canada. "Last year (2001), women made up 9.8 per cent -- which is not a great number," explained vice-president Susan Black. "But the good news is that it's up from 1998 when it was 6.7 per cent. The movement is in the right direction, but there's still a lot of room for improvement."

It's the same story in the United Kingdom, where men comprise 90 per cent of management positions, Ms. Alimo-Metcalfe said. "We've got to somehow crack this. It's not a glass ceiling, it's nuclear or concrete,"she said.

That can't be done, however, until attitudes are changed at senior management levels and more transformational leadership styles are adopted.

Not everyone agrees that sex makes a difference in a manager's effectiveness. John Challenger, a U.S. executive at an international outplacement consulting firm, said the best managers can be women or men and one sex in not necessarily better than the other.

"Good managers have to create a good group of people who are committed to their work, who support each other, achieve the objectives and create great results for the company," he said.