White males still dominate top positions in SA

[adrianh]

The idea of having balls not not being ego driven, but being able to stand up and stick to your guns during adversity. A couple of examples of women with steel balls: Helen Ziller, Patricia de Lille, Maria Ramos, Angela Merkel...etc

...don't forget Mantu for her unrelenting struggle to convert the whole world to beetroot power!

People simply do not follow leaders who are seen to be weak (male or female).

Offer a woman with similar experience the leadership post and my bet is not only will she take it, she will probably do a better job of it too.

It could be that my, and your ideas of leadership differ - I do not see leadership and management to be the same. Some managers may be leaders and some leaders may not be managers.

[Dave A]

It could be that my, and your ideas of leadership differ

Maybe.

Personally I rely on the John Maxwell definition: "Leadership is influence, nothing more and nothing less."

From there I rely on his degrees of leadership to differentiate quality of leadership.

Now if we look at the importance of balls, I think Mantu is a classic example of weak leadership despite her balls. She relied very heavily on leadership by position and was entirely ineffective at leadership by permission.