A proposal by Guðný Guðbjörnsdóttir Professor of Education University of Iceland Is the concept of leadership gendered? Decentering the discourse on women and educational leadership Why are there fewer women in positions of leadership than men, how has it been theorized and how to proceed from here? In this paper I will look at state of research on women, power and leadership, both in terms of numbers, the discourse of explanations, and theoretical approaches. My main focus is on educational leadership and on a qualitative study of women and leadership in Iceland. I maintain that neither research with focus on what women have in common nor approaches with focus on "difference" between women and how the category of gender interacts with other categories like race or ethnicity are satisfactory. Neither approach challenges masculine hegemony because the public/private dualisms remain intact and the positive elements of leadership are associated with masculinity, hence the leadership concept seems gendered even if defined in a gender neutral way. Simone de Beauvoir maintained over 50 years ago that men are human beings with sexuality and that women can only be equal to males if they can allow themselves to be individuals with sexuality. To renounce their femininity they are renouncing part of their humanity. While men can use their gender and sexuality to empower themselves as self-confident leaders, women have to renounce their femininity and thereby part of their humanity, and their authenticity as leaders. A new approach is being called for, and here an attempt is made to theorize how to proceed both in research and practice. The paper is part of the authors research Education, gender, leadership and equality supported by the University of Iceland Research Fund. 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