Abstract
Research on emotional labour explores various causes and management strategies of
emotional labour with varying results dependent on the context of each study. This study
explores the emotional labour experienced by women in leadership across business industries within South Africa. Furthermore, it examines the potential role of gendered bias in shaping
the experience of emotional labour among these women.
The study took a constructive, hermeneutic strategy and latent thematic analysis to explore the constructs of emotional labour experienced by women in leadership. Inclusion criteria
was women who held leadership or management positions within various enterprises in South
Africa. Initial participants were purposefully sampled, with further snowball sampling done
through participant references, with data saturation being reached at 10 participants. Openended interviews were hosted online using Microsoft Teams, and transcripts were scrutinised
by means of inductive thematic analysis.
The main themes emerging from the data were (a) Emotional regulation and leadership,
(b) Professionalism vs. authenticity (c) Empathy and leadership style and (d) Stereotypes and gender bias in leadership. The themes and subsequent subthemes suggest that certain
stereotypical bias around emotionality, particularly in male-dominant environments, and
stakeholder expectations of women leaders contribute to the emotional labour experienced by
women in leadership.
Keywords: emotional labour, women in leadership, emotional regulation and leadership,
professionalism vs authenticity, gender bias in leadership, qualitative study.