There’s something amiss with The Lion King — aside from talking, singing animals. Disney’s smash hit of stage and screen tells the tale of young male lion Simba’s rise to power. But, in the real circle of life, lionesses lead.
Related females band together for life, as the primary hunters and warriors. Transient males join to mate but contribute little else to a pride’s success.
The lion queens, however, are an exception. Among mammal species that live in social groups, only about 10 percent have strong female leaders. They include another fierce predator, killer whales, as well as bonobos, famous for their peaceful promiscuity.
Humans, on the other hand, are part of the mammal majority: Our leaders are mostly male. Less than 7 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are female. Worldwide, fewer than two dozen women are heads of state or government, including Germany’s Angela Merkel and New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern. In about 90 percent of nonindustrial societies studied by anthropologists, only men hold political posts.
It’s undeniable that males have more sway across institutions, societies and mammal species. But what explains those lionesses, literal and figurative — the females who lead? A multidisciplinary movement to study these outliers is gaining momentum. From hyena clans to corporate hiring culture, researchers are charting the pathways and barriers to female power among mammals, including our own species.
