Within the Discussion Board area, write 350–500 words that respond to the following questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions by your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas.

There have been effective female corporate leaders like Sheryl Sandberg, Meg Whitman, Phebe Novakovic, Ursula Burns, Indra Nooyi, and Ellen Kullman. However, women currently hold 4.6% of chief executive officer (CEO) positions; 16.9% of board seats; and 14.6% of executive positions (Catalyst, 2014). Discuss the following:

• Do you think there is a glass ceiling for women leaders? How would you explain the gender gap for women? Justify and support your answer with data and scholarly references.
• Identify a well-known past or present woman (someone your classmates could find historical information about) that you would consider a great leader.
  • Identify 5 qualities that make her a great leader. Are those qualities unique to her being a female?
  • Review some decisions made by her, and discuss whether you think those decisions would have been the same if a male was in that role.
• When you review the profiles of female world leaders like former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan, Gro Marlem Brundtland of Norway; and President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, do you see differences in external perceptions, pressures, and reactions because they are female leaders? If yes, how do you account for these differences? If no, what evidence do you have that they are treated the same as male leaders?

Please support your responses with appropriate data and research.