Women ahead in key emotional intelligence competencies

Women score higher than men on nearly all emotional intelligence competencies, except emotional self-control, where no gender differences are observed, according to new research by the Hay Group division of global people and organisational advisory firm Korn Ferry. Data from 55,000 professionals across 90 countries and all levels of management, collected between 2011 and 2015 by using the Emotional and Social Competency Inventory - developed by Richard E Boyatzis, Daniel Goleman and Hay Group - found that women more effectively employ the emotional and social competencies correlated with effective leadership and management than men. The greatest difference between the sexes can be seen in emotional self-awareness, where women are 86 per cent more likely than men to be seen as using the competency consistently (18.4 per cent demonstrate it compared to just 9.9 per cent of men). Also, women are 45 per cent more likely than men to be seen as demonstrating empathy consistently. The smallest margin of difference is seen in positive outlook - women are only nine per cent more likely to exhibit this consistently than men.