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Strong female leaders are on the rise and these powerful words to describe female leaders represent them best.
If you are looking for the perfect words to describe a female leader in your life, this list of 250+ powerful words should lead you in the right direction!
But first, let’s take a little dive into the background of what makes up a strong female leader.
What Makes a Strong Female Leader
When you think of a strong female leader, I imagine you might think of people like Oprah, Michelle Obama, or Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Those are some powerful examples of strong female leaders.
But what do they have in common? What makes a great female leader?
While many things go into a powerful woman in leadership, there are eight key attributes of a strong female leader across the board:
- They’re great at adapting to different environments
- They have emotional intelligence
- They take responsibility
- They’re strong as can be
- They know when to ask for help
- They push for equality
- They take respect seriously
- They’re resilient
These positive attributes of female leaders are what make them strong and powerful, and not just in the workplace.
The traits listed above go for any female leadership role. Meaning they could be utilized in high school, working on your own business as a female entrepreneur, or even for groups like Church and book club.
Anywhere there could be a leader, those female leadership traits shine through and have been proven to be strong traits of a good leader!
Influential Powerful Female Leaders with Great Leadership Traits
I mentioned a few examples of strong women in leadership above, but that was only just a taste of what amazing female leaders have graced us over the course of history around the world.
Some great examples of powerful female leaders that are listed in Forbes’ list of the world’s most powerful women include:
- Ursula von der Leyen
- Christine Lagarde
- Kamala Harris
- Mary Barra
- Abigail Johnson
- Melinda French Gates
- Giorgia Meloni
- Karen Lynch
And so many more. Click here for the full Forbes list of the most influential women in the world.
Every woman listed in that article has worked hard to get to where they are at, and more often than not, they had to work much harder than a male counterpart would have had to work to get to where they are.
That just goes to show how strong these women in leadership roles truly are.
Gender Bias in Powerful Leaders
Even though it is the 21st century, gender stereotypes are still present in the workplace and this directly relates to women holding leadership positions.
Outdated gender roles are in play in various areas of business and while there are many entities fighting for equal opportunities for all genders (with many laws passed), total gender equality is still not on the table.
Female employees must fight to be taken seriously, regardless of if they show the traits of being great leaders or not.
Thanks to gender bias in the workplace, they must persevere in order to make their way into a leadership role more often than not while paying close attention to their impact on others.
Many women, though, are not letting that stop them.
According to a 2022 study featured in Forbes, “…the proportion of women in senior management roles globally grew to 32% in 2022—the highest number ever recorded.” – forbes.com
This is thanks to their phenomenal leadership qualities and their ability to typically be more compassionate.
According to a 2022 article from the Harvard Business Review, “55% of the women in our study were ranked by their followers as being wise and compassionate compared to only 27% of the men.” – hbr.org
That compassion quality is one that many workers mention as a top quality in a great leader and as you can see, more women are said to present that quality over men.
But even with women’s superior leadership qualities, and quite frankly just being better leaders, it is going to take some time for the playing field to level out.
How to Become a Strong Female Leader
It’s about time that more women found themselves in a leadership role and while the numbers are clearly on the rise, many want to see an even greater percentage of women in leadership.
If you want to work your way to becoming a strong female leader, there are a few things you can get started with today that will help you grow into becoming the best leader you can be.
To become a strong female leader, women should use their feminine characteristics to their advantage.
I mentioned compassion above and that is a great example of developing natural born qualities into leadership skills! As I’m sure we can all agree with, we could use some more compassion in leadership nowadays.
Aside from that, if you want to work on becoming a strong female leader you should start with the list mentioned above under “What makes a strong female leader”
Work on practicing those skills. With those skills, the rest will come. Then when the day comes that you are able to find yourself in a leadership role, you’ll have all of the tools you need in order to be a great leader!
And don’t for a second think that your age will get in the way of you working on these skills. Great leadership has no age requirement. You can work on these skills at any age.
As mentioned above, great leadership roles come into play in all stages of life. These skills could be practiced in high school or college, or in your 30’s, 40’s, or 50’s. Even 80’s!
Age is but a number, my friend. There is no age cap on working on yourself in order to become exactly who you want to be!
So start with the list mentioned in this post. The traits learned will help you in so many areas of life!
Who knows, they might even lead to a promotion or two!
Powerful Words to Describe Female Leaders
Finding the right words to describe female leaders is made easy with the following powerful words for female leaders!
Scroll through the different words mentioned below that are all perfect for describing strong female leaders.
A Words to Describe Powerful Women
- Accepting
- Accomplished
- Accountable
- Activist
- Adaptable
- Adventurous
- Ambitious
- Admirable
- Affable
- Agile
- Altruistic
- Ambitious
- Amicable
- Attentive
- Authentic
B Words to Describe Influential Women
- Badass
- Balanced
- Beautiful
- Believer
- Benevolent
- Bodacious
- Bold
- Brave
- Bright
- Brilliant
C Words to Describe Female Leaders
- Calm
- Candid
- Capable
- Caring
- Centered
- Challenging
- Champion
- Charismatic
- Charitable
- Charming
- Cheery
- Civil
- Classy
- Clever
- Comforting
- Committed
- Compassionate
- Competent
- Confident
- Conscientious
- Considerate
- Consistent
- Controlled
- Cool-headed
- Cooperative
- Courageous
- Creative
D Words to Describe Successful Women
- Daring
- Decisive
- Dedicated
- Determined
- Dependable
- Devoted
- Difference-maker
- Diligent
- Disciplined
- Driven
- Dynamic
E Words to Describe a Strong Woman
- Educated
- Eager
- Easy-going
- Eccentric
- Effusive
- Electric
- Empathetic
- Empowering
- Encouraging
- Endearing
- Energetic
- Engaged
- Enlightened
- Enough
- Enthusiastic
- Entrepreneurial
- Experienced
- Exuberant
F Words to Describe Alpha Females
- Fabulous
- Fair
- Fantastic
- Fascinating
- Fearless
- Flexible
- Focused
- Forgiving
- Friendly
- Funny
G Words to Describe Female Leaders
- Generous
- Genius
- Genuine
- Glowing
- Graceful
- Gracious
- Grand
- Grateful
- Great
- Gregarious
H Words to Describe Powerful Female Leaders
- Happy
- Hardworking
- Heartwarming
- Helpful
- Hero
- Hilarious
- Honest
- Hopeful
- Humanitarian
- Humble
- Humorous
I Words to Describe Successful Women
- Idealistic
- Illuminated
- Imaginative
- Inclusive
- Incredible
- Independent
- Ineffable
- Innovative
- Inspirational
- Intelligent
- Intentional
- Intuitive
- Involved
J Words to Describe a Strong Woman
- Jovial
- Joyful
- Jubilant
K Words to Describe Influential Women
- Keen
- Kind
- Kind-hearted
- Knowledgeable
L Words to Describe Powerful Women
- Leader
- Listener
- Lively
- Loveable
- Loving
- Loyal
M Words to Describe Successful Female Leaders
- Magnanimous
- Magnetic
- Magnificent
- Marvelous
- Mature
- Mesmerizing
- Methodical
- Meticulous
- Mindful
- Modest
- Motivated
- Motivational
N Words to Describe Powerful Female Leaders
- Natural
- Nice
- Noble
- Notable
- Nurturing
O Words to Describe a Strong Woman
- Observant
- Open
- Open-minded
- Optimistic
- Opportunistic
- Orderly
- Organized
- Original
- Outgoing
- Outstanding
P Words to Describe Successful Women
- Passionate
- Patient
- Peaceful
- Persistent
- Pioneering
- Placid
- Playful
- Pleasant
- Poised
- Polite
- Positive
- Powerful
- Practical
- Proactive
- Prosperous
- Punctual
Q Words to Describe Female Leaders
- Qualified
- Quality
- Quick-minded
- Quirky
- Quotable
R Words to Describe Powerful Women
- Radiant
- Radical
- Rational
- Realistic
- Reassuring
- Receptive
- Refreshed
- Relatable
- Relaxed
- Reliable
- Remarkable
- Resilient
- Resourceful
- Respected
- Reverent
S Words to Describe Influential Women
- Secured
- Self-assured
- Sensational
- Sensible
- Sincere
- Skilled
- Sharing
- Sharp
- Smart
- Spectacular
- Strategic
- Strong
- Successful
- Supportive
- Sympathetic
T Words to Describe Successful Female Leaders
- Talented
- Team-player
- Thankful
- Thinker
- Thorough
- Thoughtful
- Tolerant
- Tough
- Transparent
- Triumphant
- Trustworthy
U Words to Describe a Strong Woman
- Unassuming
- Unconventional
- Understandable
- Understanding
- Unique
- Unselfish
- Upbeat
- Uplifting
V Words to Describe Female Leaders
- Valuable
- Valued
- Versatile
- Vibrant
- Victorious
- Virtuous
- Vivacious
W Words to Describe Powerful Women
- Warm
- Welcoming
- Well-versed
- Whole
- Wholesome
- Willful
- Wise
- Witty
- Wonderful
- Wondrous
- Worthy
X Words to Describe a Strong Woman
Unfortunately, I didn’t come across any worthy words for this list that started with X.
Y Words to Describe Successful Women
- Youthful
Z Words to Describe Strong Female Leaders
- Zealous
- Zesty
I hope you found this list of words to describe female leaders helpful and insightful! If you loved this post, I think you’d also like this one packed full of personal development books for women, as well as this one that includes a handful of mental health support podcasts.
One last takeaway:
You can do anything you set your mind to. You too can become a powerful leader one day. Your favorite words from this list can be used to describe you too.
It’ll happen. Just take things one step at a time.
Be brave. Everyday. Do something brave that your future self will be thankful for!
Sources used in this post:
BURHO, MOIRA FORBES AND MAGGIE MCGRATH WITH NICOLETTE JONES AND ERIKA. “The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women 2022.” Forbes, www.forbes.com/lists/power-women/?sh=2a0eb18f5a95. Accessed 29 Apr. 2023.
“When Women Leaders Leave, the Losses Multiply.” Harvard Business Review, 8 Mar. 2022, hbr.org/2022/03/when-women-leaders-leave-the-losses-multiply. Accessed 29 Apr. 2023.
Amar, Solomon. “Council Post: Why Everyone Wins with More Women in Leadership.” Forbes, www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2023/02/07/why-everyone-wins-with-more-women-in-leadership/?sh=55adba723cdd. Accessed 29 Apr. 2023.
