Women and Leadership: Ability and Qualification

When a woman becomes a leader, society’s views begin to tend to negative prejudices. Most members of society see women’s leadership as something weak and fragile. There are also those of us who think that women are not qualified to lead as long as there are men. Nevertheless, there is also the view that, leadership and women are normal. This shows that, leadership is not the exclusive right of men only. Even Islam does not forbid a woman to lead, as long as it does not go beyond the boundaries of religion. It can be seen nowadays, many women hold high positions in the administration of an organization. They also held important positions in government, even being among the dominant in the political leadership. This situation proves that, women have the ability and qualifications to lead. Even so, not all Malaysians are confident in women's ability to lead. Therefore, this brief study was conducted to survey society's perceptions regarding the ability and qualifications of a woman in the criteria to be a good leader. It is hoped that the findings of this study can be a basic guide for future researchers to conduct follow -up studies.