DOES A WOMAN LEADER HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE FUNNY AT WORK? WOMEN, HUMOR AND LEADERSHIP

Abstract

This article analyzes the use of humor by women leaders in the workplace. The literature review shows that women, in this field as in many others, are subject to a double standard: what is perceived as valorizing for a man is sometimes perceived as devaluing for a woman. In order to analyze how women leaders use humor in the workplace, we conducted 13 in-depth interviews with women leaders. Our results enrich the literature by showing the diversity of uses of humor by women leaders in the workplace. Some of them strictly refuse to use it. Most of them use it while being extremely attentive to the situation in which they are. A few use it willingly. These results allow identifying the conditions that permit the use of humour by women leaders in the workplace.