The paper presents the differences in perception of men and women in business. It presents management styles and characteristics for both sexes in accordance with Polish and foreign research. Focus is placed on the role of emotional intelligence, which is the key to achieving professional success. The paper presents research results of other authors and arguments for increasing the share of women in managerial positions in order to diversify team gender balance which increases enterprise effectiveness. It presents the methodology of the research on the perception of men and women from the perspective of emotional intelligence. The research results of a survey carried out in the years 2015-2016 on 228 respondents regarding 33 emotional intelligence competences, divided into 11 groups. It points out competences where men and women in managerial positions were rated similarly and areas where one of the sexes is perceived as better.