Maybe Women Were Meant to Lead All Along (And We Just Forgot)

A science-meets-soul take on leadership, evolution, and why the future might be feminine after all.

Written by Shelly Moore

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There’s unfortunately still this almost stigmatized idea out there (let’s be real – mostly in the older generations) that women “just aren’t built for leadership.”

Too emotional. Too soft. Too maternal.

Hell, they went to some seriously insane lengths to remove us from the Bible and other HIStorical records… that alone should spur both concern and curiosity.

But what if we flipped that narrative completely?

🌀 What if those so-called weaknesses are actually the exact traits that made us evolutionarily designed for leadership?

Not just in a boardroom, but in families, communities, governments, and entire ecosystems.

This isn’t a “rah rah women rule, men drool” kind of post. It’s not about hierarchy or gender wars. In fact, I don’t believe in hierarchies. I strongly believe in equality, but also that we are genetically evolved to have certain inherent biological strengths dependent upon gender.

It’s about looking deeply and reverently at the data—biology, history, neuroscience, and plain old common sense—and asking the real question:

⁉️ Have we been choosing the wrong kind of leadership all along?

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10 Reasons Women Might Be Evolutionarily Wired to Lead (Better)

👯1. Women evolved for cooperation, not domination.

Tribal survival wasn’t about who could throw the hardest punch—it was about who could keep the group alive.

Women gathered, nurtured, communicated, problem-solved. They didn’t need control; they created cohesion.

🧠 2. The female brain is more neurologically wired for empathy.

Women show higher activity in the mirror neuron system, meaning they actually feel what others feel more vividly.

That’s not “too emotional.” That’s the blueprint for conscious, compassionate leadership.

🧬 3. Estrogen supports connection, oxytocin builds trust.

These hormones don’t just create warm fuzzies—they foster social bonding, intuition, and long-term thinking.

That’s the stuff strong communities (and companies) are made of.

🕸️ 4. Women think in webs, not ladders.

Linear hierarchy? That’s a masculine invention.

Women’s brains tend to form more connections between the hemispheres—leading to multidimensional thinking and better conflict resolution.

👂 5. Girls are taught to listen. (Sometimes too much.)

While this often gets weaponized against us, the truth is: deep listening creates understanding.

And understanding? That’s how you lead without force.

🧩 6. Women often anticipate needs before they’re spoken.

Call it intuition, pattern recognition, or just centuries of unpaid emotional labor—but women pick up on what’s not being said.

Which makes them masters of reading a room, a child, a crisis… and leading accordingly.

💪🏻 7. Female bodies are biologically designed for creation and endurance.

Literal life-givers. Pain-tolerant. Flexible. Adaptable.

We ride cycles like ocean tides and still show up.

👷‍♀️ 8. Women tend to build community, not ego towers.

The best female-led spaces aren’t about “me first.” They’re about “all of us, better.”

Collaboration. Inclusion. Lifting each other up. That’s ancient wisdom, not modern marketing.

🫥 9. We’ve been leading all along—just invisibly.

Behind the generals were the mothers.

Behind the “self-made men” were the wives.

Behind the peaceful homes were the women keeping it all from burning down.

Leadership doesn’t always look like a podium.

🫀🫶🏻 10. Women lead from the heart—and the heart is not weak.

We’ve been sold a version of leadership that prizes power over people.

But power without heart is just force. And the world doesn’t need more of that.

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We’re not saying women are better.

We’re saying different might just be exactly what’s needed.

The world doesn’t need more greedy, power hungry, strongmen.

🤍 It needs strong-hearted humans.

And maybe—just maybe—the future isn’t female because it’s trendy…

Maybe it’s female because that’s where the healing begins. (And boy oh boy, are we overdue.)

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