Women and Leadership by
For most of recorded history, men have held nearly all of the most powerful leadership positions. Today, although women occupy an increasing percentage of leadership positions, in America they hold less than a fifth of positions in both the public and private sectors. The United States ranks 78th in the world for women's representation in political office. In politics, although women constitute a majority of the electorate, they account for only 18 percent of Congress, 10 percent of governors, and 12 percent of mayors of the nation's 100 largest cities. In academia, women account for a majority of college graduates, but only about a quarter of full professors and university presidents. In law, women are almost half of law school graduates, but only 17 percent of the equity partners of major firms, and 22 percent of Fortune 500 general counsels. In business, women constitute a third of MBA graduates, but only 5 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs. In Women and Leadership, the eminent legal scholar Deborah L. Rhode focuses on women's underrepresentation in leadership roles and asks why it persists and what we can do about it. Although organizations generally stand to gain from increasing gender equity in leadership, women's underrepresentation is persistent and pervasive. Rhode explores the reasons, including women's family roles, unconscious gender bias, and exclusion from professional development networks. She stresses that we cannot address the problem at the individual level; instead, she argues that we need broad-based strategies that address the deep-seated structural and cultural conditions facing women. She surveys a range of professions in politics, management, law, and academia and draws from a survey of prominent women to develop solutions that can successfully chip away at the imbalance. These include developing robust women-to-women networks, enacting laws and policies that address work/life imbalances, and training programs that start at an earlier age. Rhode's clear exploration of the leadership gap and her compelling policy prescriptions will make this an essential book for anyone interested in leveling the playing field for women leaders in America.
Women's Spiritual Leadership in Africa by
Inspiring portraits of contemporary African women leaders.
Women and Leadership by
This e-book has sought to give attention to why women's leadership continues to be a problem. Leadership is a seductive topic. Yet in most texts, women are merely subsumed. This e-book has attempted to draw together some issues which are pertinent to women and leadership in the future. A number of questions are to be asked. We hope you will find some thoughts to engage with...
Women in Leadership by
Women leaders in many parts of the world have leadership opportunities that never existed before as a result of technology, globalization, and demographic shifts that have produced more female graduates than in the past and created a workforce which consists almost 50% of women. Ever more so, in today's rapidly changing environment, the contexts in which women exercise leadership is critically important in shaping their leadership style. At the same time, objectifying women in contexts such as sports and the media or the patriarchal ideology that permeates contexts such as the military and the church have changed very little. This book, updated and expanded from the 2011 first edition, acknowledges and discusses the belief that the context in which women exercise leadership is critically important in shaping their leadership style. Each chapter opens with a vignette of an extraordinary leader in the respective context, presents a contextual analysis, and discusses issues, controversies and paradoxes germane to the context of interest. What is the future of women's leadership in a global environment characterized by ambiguity, uncertainty, increasing interdependence and interconnectivity? Award-winning author Karin Klenke shows us in this revised edition of Women in Leadership.
Who Shall Lead Them? by
The clergy today faces mounting challenges in an increasingly secular world, where declining prestige makes it more difficult to attract the best and the brightest young Americans to the ministry. As Christian churches dramatically adapt to modern changes, some are asking whether there is aclergy crisis as well. Whatever the future of the clergy, the fate of millions of churchgoers also will be at stake.In Who Shall Lead Them?, prizewinning journalist Larry Witham takes the pulse of both the Protestant and Catholic ministry in America and provides a mixed diagnosis of the calling's health. Drawing on dozens of interviews with clergy, seminarians and laity, and using newly available surveydata including the 2000 Census, Witham reveals the trends in a variety of traditions. While evangelicals are finding innovative paths to ministry, the Catholic priesthood faces a severe shortage. In mainline Protestantism, ministry as a second career has become a prominent feature. Ordination agesin the Episcopal and United Methodist churches average in the 40s today. The quest by female clergy to lead from the pulpit, meanwhile, has hit a "stained glass ceiling" as churches still prefer a man as the principal minister. While deeply motivated by the mystery of their "call" to ministry,America's priests, pastors, and ministers are reassessing their roles in a world of new debates on leadership, morality, and the powers of the mass media.Who Shall Lead Them? offers a valuable snapshot of this contemporary clergy drama. It will be required reading for everyone concerned about the rapidly shifting ground of our churches and the health of religion in America.
Women in Leadership and Work-Family Integration by
The majority of university students in the US and around the world are women (Economist, 2006). This recent increase in the education of women has allowed their employment rate to inflate, leading to an influx of issues surrounding the work-life balance. The era surrounding World War II led to an amplified presence of women seeking opportunities for a career, which in turn led to tensions at home and in the workplace as women try to balance the roles of family with a career. Many women have joined men in the provider role and the dual earner family has now become the norm (Gornick and Myers 2003). Traditional roles have shifted as women and men are both parents and workers. The picture of the career women and mother is divided and multi-faceted in existing research findings and opinions. Commonly assessed issues include the social implications of the dual roles of females, cultural norms, workplace policies with attention to female-specific hurdles, and marital satisfaction in gender roles. Various research studies suggest that marital relationships have become more egalitarian (Bielenski and Wagner, 2004), while others find that a large number of well-educated women have left careers for full-time motherhood (Belkin, 2003; Warner, 2005). In 2009, a research group was formed at Pepperdine University's Graduate School of Education and Psychology to explore the competing narratives of women's lives as they balance their work activities with the demands of marriage and motherhood. The ultimate goal of this project was to understand the work-life balance issues of women in the workforce. This work is now known as the Digital Women's Project (Weber, 2011) and has collected over 400 interviews of women to explore themes around work-life balance. This phenomenological analysis utilizes a narrative life-course framework created by Giele (2008) to explore identity, relational style, drive and motivation, and adaptive style in order to understand the work-life balance of women. Women in Leadership and Work-Family Integration brings together the findings of this research group.
Contesting the Terrain of the Ivory Tower by
This study examines the leadership of three African-American women administrators in higher education, and how they have used their spirituality as a lens to lead in the academy. The central questions in this case study include: How do African-American women make meaning of their spiritual selves in their everyday leadership practices? How does their spirituality influence their work and the type of relationships they develop with others in the academy? What are the ways in which these three women have used their spirituality as a lens to lead, and how does this leadership impact the social, cultural and political construct of a male-dominated arena?