Is There Really Room to Debate Whether Women Can Lead

The headline was powerful - or at least it had the power to startle.

Within the setting of the often excellent Opinion section blog, Room for Debate, and in the context of Sheryl Sandberg’s book “Lean In,” it read: “Do Women Have What It Takes to Lead”

On Twitter, Sarah Green, an editor at the Harvard Business Review, deemed it “not fit to print.” Those responding to her were quick to note that The Times’s own newsroom is led by Jill Abramson, the executive editor.

In a blog called Policymic, Elizabeth Plank took up the topic with a certain amount of impatience.

“Can you hear that Ah yes. That’s the distinct sound of thousands of face palms echoing all over the nation.” And she noted that the subject “was last formally addressed in 1954 in the October issue of The Homemaker.”

By phone, Ms. Green later called the question “undermining.”

“If you substituted any other demographic group, I think there would have been an a-ha moment by an editor that this wasn’t such a good idea,” she told me.

She added: “Why, with women, are we still asking questions like that” Is it, she wondered, “because sexism is harder to see” And, she said, “Because we don’t see women in leadership positions as much, people think there’s something wrong with the women.”

Harvard Business Review has published a number of studies that suggest that women actually outpace men in leadership abilities, according to both genders.

“So why don’t we have more female leaders I think that’s a much more interesting (and debatable) question than ‘Do women have what it takes’” Ms. Green said.

The editor of Room for Debate, Susan Ellingwood, responded to my question about the headline.

Raising a provocative question is our way of starting an interesting discussion. That title starts a productive conversation about gender stereotypes and leadership - even if, in the end, the consensus among the debaters is “yes, women do have what it takes.” Each post explored the question from a different angle. And as readers’ reactions show, the pieces sparked a conversation about an important topic. That’s our goal.

What struck all of us here at Room for Debate is that the publicity around Sheryl Sandberg’s book promotes an aggressive self-centered “male” approach to leadership, and yet there are many studies that show that team-building and consensus, seen as a “female,” approach to leadership can be more effective.

Gender equity, equal pay, the differences in leadership styles, the relatively small number of women in top corporate jobs or top elected positions, how women can succeed at both career and home life - all of these topics are worth discussing. (And now that we all live in what sometimes feels like Ms. Sandberg’s “Lean In” nation, we’re certainly getting plenty of opportunities to do just that.) No complaints there.

But prompting the discussion with a question whose answer is self-evident may not be the best approach.

As Ms. Plank responded to the question: “Uh, yes.”