OPINION:
Does hair colour matter when it comes to leadership? Anecdotal evidence suggests that may be the case, writes Marc Wilson.
Finally, a “ginger” at the top. Congrats, Chris Hipkins, on your inheritance of the Big Hat.
Hipkins will be the 41st wearer of the prime ministerial Big Hat. According to my amateur research, it looks like he is the first redhead in the role – that’s about 2.4 per cent of our prime ministers.
Were this Ireland, I’d be up in arms if that were the case – Ireland is indeed a bastion of the redhead, where they represent 10 per cent of the population. The website for World Redhead Day 2021 claims it is pipped only by Scotland (13 per cent).
Unfortunately, the worldpopulationreview.com page for the percentage of redheads by country doesn’t give info on New Zealand, so let’s guess we’re somewhere around the Western European numbers of 1-6 per cent. So, are we biased against redhead leaders?
Apart from anecdote (Winston Churchill, Julia Gillard, etc), I can’t find hard data on redheaded prime ministers. But researchers Margaret Takeda, Marilyn Helms and Natalia Romanova have me covered as far as UK CEOs go. In 2006, these two blondes and a redhead (at least that’s what their current profile pictures suggest) analysed the hair colour of the leaders of 500 top companies, reporting that just over two-thirds were brunette, a quarter had black locks, 5 per cent were blond, and … 4 per cent were ginger.
Compared with the population proportions for these four hair colours, blond CEOs were under-represented (we’d expect four times as many), black/brown are slightly more common than chance, and there are four times more redhead CEOs than we’d expect. This gels with the small number of other studies that have looked at female stereotypes associated with hair colour – blondes are likeable, but not particularly competent, and redheads are less likeable, but most competent. Think Margaret Thatcher.
Indeed, research hints at multiple redhead stereotypes – fiery tempered (fire equals red, right?), smart and unusual. Female redheads are also perceived as “wild”.
Though red hair dye is consistently among the most popular hair products, research on the perceived attractiveness of people based on their hair is a bit mixed. There have been several nightclub studies (a research confederate sits in a nightclub over several days, wearing different coloured wigs) that confirm some of our stereotypes – blonde women get more requests to dance. When bewigged male confederates asked women to dance, blond men didn’t show any advantage but, sadly, ginger blokes got more refusals. Stay away from nightclubs, Chippy.
I find this paradoxical – we are more likely to turn our hair red than any other colour, but nightclub studies don’t show a redhead advantage. I speak also from personal preference – my wife is a redhead and our son is a ginger, too.
Many redhead research participants say they like the colour of their hair; that it makes them distinctive and special. Perhaps more than any hair colour, it shapes how redheads see themselves. Many also report being bullied, however.
Which brings me to my second point. Only two of Takeda and colleagues’ 500 CEOs were women. Both were brunettes. Hipkins replaces Jacinda Ardern, and much press has been devoted to the unprecedented harassment and bullying that Ardern has received. I’m personally sad to see her pass on the Big Hat because, while she has dark hair, Ardern has redefined the female leader prototype.
Historically, to be successful, women leaders were expected to behave in ways that are more consistent with the expectations of men – being assertive, ruthless, etc. Again, think Thatcher or our own “Crusher” Collins. They were then criticised for not being “womanly” enough.
Ardern’s tenure has been defined by her call to “be kind”, which has been a breath of fresh air. I suspect Hipkins will also be a target of the trolls because of his ginger nut, and I hope he tries to follow at least partly in the footsteps of his predecessor and lead with compassion.
