Percepti̇on of female leadershi̇p i̇n a patri̇archy system: A study i̇n the republi̇c of beni̇n

The aim of this study is to assess the perception of women's leadership through attitudes in the patriarchal system in Cotonou and to identify the factors that impede the access of women in leadership positions. In order to carry out this research, 437 people participated in this survey as a total (191 administrators, 140 employees and 106 students) and it has been surveyed by the service companies in Cotonou. For this study, International standard scales (WAMS and WLPQ) and for analysis SPSS 21.0 program are used. By factor analysis, WAMS scale has 4 factors and WLPQ scale has 3 factors. The four factors of WAMS (women as a manager scale) are very good (.801) and the three factors of WLPQ are moderate (.688). In addition, Independent-Samples T-test and Anova show that in Cotonou, which has been used in this analysis, women have more positive attitudes towards female leaders than men. It is also shown that the strongest factor influencing attitudes is gender and other demographic characteristics (such as level of education, years of experience, presence of a female leader in the department and working with a female leader) could also be influencing it. Likewise, the main factor blocking the access of female leaders in leadership positions is patriarchy (64.8%) and so is the affective attribute which is highly associated with female leadership. Finally, it is advised to reduce gender inequality and promote the access of more women in leadership positions. Key words: Female leadership, attitude, patriarchal system, Cotonou