Men’s Leadership Development: A Framework for Advancing Gender Equity in Leadership Development

Many organizations use gender-based leadership development for women as a primary strategy to address gender inequity in the workplace. However, gender inequity persists in organizations because it depends just as much on men’s leadership as on women’s. I reconceptualize gender-based leadership development to include men and introduce a conceptual framework for designing men’s leadership development to advance gender equity. The framework consists of three key elements: reflexive identity development, which reframes self-awareness as understanding one’s leader identity as shaped by power, privilege, and gendered difference; intersectional relationality, which shifts leadership development from individual skill building to relationship building that is responsive to power dynamics across race, gender, nationality, age, sexuality, ability, and other social categories; and organizational accountability, which moves leadership development beyond stand-alone programming and integrates gender equity as part of organizational structures. I argue that these elements are essential for expanding gender-based leadership development to include men and for embedding gender equity as a core aspect of leadership development and organizational transformation.