For generations, Asia gave birth to many prominent and influential female leaders. Contradictory to the western culture, Asians accepted female leadership in a better manner. Of course it was not easy for many of the female leaders to be accepted as some people never wanted to move on from traditional values that women are weak and should not rule those higher than them (men).
Female leadership is closely related to gender equity. One should not see the female part, but rather the leadership part. A good leadership is not about participative style in consulting, discussing, cooperating, nor it is about the skills in motivating others and supporting others (Eagly, 2007). Burns (1987) highlighted two types of leadership, transactional leadership and transformational leadership as the better form of leadership. Transformational leadership focuses on gaining trust and confidence while helping his/her subordinates to improve. And for this, many researchers disagree that men and women have different leadership quality (Eagly, 2007).
As females were thought to be less likely to lead (Latu, Mast, Lammers and Bombari, 2013), gaining trust and confidence is very important for female leaders. Richter stated “family ties are necessary for women candidates to win election” (as cited in Silvestre, 2001). A close family tie with an influential political person will indirectly lead the people to trust the person. For example we can see Megawati Sukarnoputri, the first (and only) female president in Indonesia who also is the daughter of Dr. Ir. Soekarno the first president of Indonesia.
Megawati joined Indonesian Democratic Party (also known as PDI in Indonesia). The truth that she is the daughter of the former President of Indonesia instantly boosts the party and her popularity which became her path towards presidential position back in 2001 to 2004.
However it may be, in the later stage, people started to lost their trust on her as she was deemed to be indecisive, lacking of ideological direction and many important matters continued without a real solution or decision (Lindsey, 2008), for example she allowed the acquisition of privately owned organizations and assets. Megawati is more to be the passive leader. And thus, she lost her popularity and had never been able to re-win the heart of Indonesian.
Aung San Suu Kyi, a prominent influential female in Burma. She is not a president like Megawati Sukarnoputri, however she is a great leader for many. She also has her basic influence from her father Aung San who founded the Modern Burmese Army and one of the influential person who negotiated their independence from the British Empire.
Aung San Suu Kyi later lead the pro-democratic movement in Burma, and found National Leagues of Democracy (NLD) a non-violence political party. Her contribution moved the heart of Burma and even the world, and NLD even won a great portion on votes on a general election, however the Military Junta refused to hand over the power and instead, Aung San Suu Kyi was house arrested. While in house arrest, she received many prizes including the Nobel Peace Prize (Miller, 2001).
Female leaders are non-traditional and face challenges that most men do not dare to face, and that is one of the biggest advantage of a female leader (Eagly, 2007). From the above leaders, we could see that both are non-traditional and face the challenges. Megawati might not be decisive for most, but she once sold assets to maintain the stability of Indonesian economy, something that everyone would go against, but effective even for a short term. She moved away from traditional doctrine and go against the rules as to maintain the stability.
On the other hand, Aung San Suu Kyi faced a great challenge in a non-violent way. The Junta was powerful that nearly no one dared to question their authority and abusive of powers, but Aung San Suu Kyi has a kind stubbornness which also moved the heart of the entire world.
Female leaders have their own advantage and disadvantage towards the people, and tracing back to history, Asia had political female leaders even back to 202 BC, Empress Regent of China, Lu Zhi. We cannot judge female leaders by their stereotypes; judge them by how great they can affect their people and grow together with their people as how transformational leadership is.
References:
Eagly, A. H. (2007). Female leadership advantage and disadvantage: resolving the contradictions. Psychology of women quarterly, 31(1), 1-12.
Latu, I. M., Mast, M. S., Lammers, J., & Bombari, D. (2013). Successful female leaders empower women's behavior in leadership tasks. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49(3), 444-448.
Lindsey, T. (Ed.). (2008). Indonesia, law and society. Federation Press.
Miller, J. E. (Ed.). (2002). Who's who in Contemporary Women's Writing. Psychology Press.
Richter, L. K. (1990). Exploring theories of female leadership in South and Southeast Asia. Pacific Affairs, 524-540.
Silvestre, J. (2001). The rise of women leaders in the Philippines: A study of Corazon Aquino and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Berkeley University.
