350 Powerful Words To Describe Strong Female Leaders

By Rachel Lankester, Mutton Club Editor

I’m fascinated by female leadership. The words we use to describe female leaders can often be so very different to those we use for male leaders. In the past, it was usually only by becoming more masculine, that a woman could become a leader. This was certainly my experience in the corporate world. Fortunately things are finally changing and more feminine characteristics are now finding a place in leadership.

Women can increasingly excel in a leadership role by being a strong female leader rather than adopting more masculine attributes. So the many different words we can use to describe strong women are changing. Here I’m going to be exploring some of the most empowering words we can apply to a strong female leader. There will be words we might not have previously thought of as associated with leadership in the past.

When you think of women leaders, who springs to mind? I believe that as we get older we become better leaders, because we have so much wisdom and experience. I find it fascinating and reassuring that the vast majority of powerful women on Forbes’ The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women list are over the age of 40. I think we become ever stronger at leadership, the older we get. 

There is also increasingly a place for younger female leaders. Jacinda Ardern is a phenomenal example of a younger strong woman leader who was able to crush gender stereotypes that still exist for the very top leadership positions – as the leader of a country. She was able to show her care, empathy and intuition as she lead her country through the very hard times under Covid 19. She stood out on the world stage as a result.  She shifted our global perception of what a leader can look like.

On the Forbes list, the younger leaders included mostly seem to be from the entertainment industry. This does not negate their leadership qualities and certainly not how powerful they are, but they are perhaps not the most typical figures when one considers a great leader. They certainly have a lot of influence though!

As well as Jacinda, some of the women who strike me as being strong female leaders in recent times are:

• Hillary Clinton
• Oprah Winfrey
• Ursula von der Leyen
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg
• Kamala Harris
• Melinda French Gates
• Christine Laguard
• Angela Merkel
• Queen Elizabeth
• Nicola Sturgeon
• Indira Gandhi
• Maya Angelou

I feel I should include Margaret Thatcher as she was a very powerful woman, though I didn’t like her or her policies! But as the first female prime minister of the UK, she changed things dramatically for all women and what we could potentially achieve.

She was someone who, I believe, took on male leadership characteristics in her quest of power and certainly didn’t demonstrate the more female aspects of leadership, such as emotional intelligence, for example. I’m not sure she did much for gender equality or even women’s rights! She wasn’t exactly a feminist leader!  But she did change global perceptions of what was possible for women in leadership. 

You can see that I am taking the idea of a powerful leader to be one who leads a country! Though of course there are highly influential women and great role models on my list who are not in the world of politics. And there are loads of powerful female leaders who we never hear of. 

You may work with female employees and come across other successful women who demonstrate strong leadership skills. There may be a particularly powerful female entrepreneur in your orbit, whose positive attributes can inspire you.

Maybe you’re in a position to see and emulate the positive personality traits that successful female leaders so often embody, so you can adopt them into your own leadership skills. That’s where lists of words like this become powerful in themselves. You can use these words to inform how you talk and write about women leaders and even about yourself. 

So what are some powerful adjectives in the English language that we can use to describe a strong woman who happens to be a great female leader? What words can we use to describe a good leader? How might you describe yourself when trying to find the right words to show yourself in the best possible light, in performance reviews for example?

I hope this list of adjectives will give you plenty of scope for creative solutions next time you need to find positive words to describe female leaders. What are your favorites?

Pretty long list huh! When I started it, I never imagined there would be so many words to describe female leaders! I hope there are plenty to inspire you here for when you next need to talk about powerful women!

Last Updated on August 31, 2023 by Editorial Staff