Women and Leadership

Until recently, the study of legislative leadership has been the study of men. Scholars have taught students that legislative leadership is transactional, a kind of competitive bargaining procedure to broker particular interests. When Women Lead: Integrative Leadership in State Legislatures brings to light the important contributions that women as legislative leaders make to the institutions in which they operate. Cindy Simon Rosenthal shows us how (and where) women are "integrating" the ranks of the legislative hierarchy, a forum in which they have been all but absent. She also argues that women are "doing leadership" in an innovative, inclusive style that subtly redefines both the appearance and meaning of political leadership. Contradicting the assumption that legislative leadership is inherently transactional, Rosenthal posits an integrative style emphasizing collaboration, shared problem-solving, and consensus. Further, she argues that women committee chairs come to their roles from different life experiences, and so employ motivations, tactics, and visions of leadership that differ in important ways from their male counterparts. Her findings suggest that women tend to see political leadership as something more than the act of satisfying particular interests. This study of women who chair state legislative committees examines one of America's largest cohorts of women in institutional leadership roles, thus making an important contribution to our understanding of gender, organizational leadership, and state legislatures. Rosenthal ably demonstrates that legislatures are not gender-neutral and that legislative leadership must be understood within a gendered context. Numbers and power therefore constitute critical variables throughout this study. While stereotyping has not disappeared in some states, women across the country--as illustrated in When Women Lead--are effectively redefining the framework and the assumptions central to political leadership in other locales.

This study is the first to provide a detailed analysis of the extend to which representation of women, blacks, and Hispanics in state legislatures translates into actual political power. It also shows how factors such as party affiliation, opportunity and incentives, region, religion, employment, and cultural differences affect the political fortunes of each of these groups. Based on systematic comparisons of recent elections and legislative records, Nelson's work contributes significant new information on the operation of the democratic process.

This study of the relationship between women, media and politics looks at a variety of topics including women as journalists, media framing of the generation gap, and talk radio and gender politics.

In this book, some of the world's leading scholars come together to describe their thinking and research on the topic of the psychology of leadership. Most of the chapters were originally presented as papers at a research conference held in 2001 at the Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University. The contributions span traditional social psychological areas, as well as organizational theory; examining leadership as a psychological process and as afforded by organizational constraints and opportunities. The editors' goal was not to focus the chapters on a single approach to the study and conceptualization of leadership but rather to display the diversity of issues that surround the topic. Leadership scholars have identified a host of approaches to the study of leadership. What are the personal characteristics of leaders? What is the nature of the relation between leaders and followers? Why do we perceive some people to be better leaders than others? What are the circumstances that evoke leadership qualities in people? Can leadership be taught? And so on. The contributions to this book examine these important questions and fall into three categories: conceptions of leadership, factors that influence the effectiveness of leadership, and the consequences and effects of leadership on the leader. All in all, the chapters of this volume display part of a broad spectrum of novel and important approaches to the study of the psychology of leadership. We hope that they are equally useful to those who are or would be leaders and to those who study the topic. As recent events have served to remind us, it is too important a topic to be ignored by psychologists.

This book is about how individuals can achieve their objectives in organizational work groups. Office politics, or organizational politics, is a significant part of the life of everyone who works with others in formal or informal groups. These relationships are power-tinged, and success can be attained only as we use power effectively. Understanding what power is and how it can be used to gain personal or group objectives is the focus of the book. It provides readers with specific recommendations about the situations in which power use can be effective, and it identifies those tactics most effective in leading subordinates and superiors toward the achievement of our goals.

This new edition of Contemporary Issues in Leadership speaks directly to the central points of change: leadership vs. management; leadership and followership; and especially, the diversity of leadership styles and pathways.

Constituting fewer than 15% of the nation's police officers, women have found it especially difficult to rise through the ranks and achieve higher posts. Here, those few women who have made it to the top--about 1% of the chiefs and sheriffs in American policing--share their stories and describe the challenges they faced as they rose to their positions. Each of the chiefs competed for their offices with other candidates, almost always male. The sheriffs--virtually all elected officials--faced other challenges and came under even closer scrutiny. While few in number, these "top cops" illustrate the emergence of women as more than token leaders of American sheriff and police departments. They are unique groundbreakers who have managed to breach the brass ceiling.

Explores the role of communication and the interplay of leadership and gender among top African American female executives. For scholars and students in organizational/cross-cultural/applied communication, leadership, management, African studies, and women's studies.

Women compose nearly half of today's workforce, are in more management positions than ever before, and have reached every level of the Fortune 500--except the most important ones. This book explodes long-held myths and provides practical advice on the first steps needed to effectively break the glass ceiling.

Dame Nita Barrow was a strong force and a life-long champion of justice, community service and human rights. A former Governor General of Barbados, her illustrious career included presidencies in several international organizations and numerous honors and awards for her lifelong commitment.

This book examines how this extraordinary Caribbean woman developed her leadership strategies to contribute to social change and shape development policy on national, regional, and international levels. More than a celebration of her achievements, it analyzes Barrow's career as a case study of leadership by black "Third World" women during the turbulence of the 1930s. The essays examine different aspects of Barrow's career, placing them in historical and social context. Topics include foreign policy, women's leadership, citizen and state, diplomacy, health and nursing, education, and the environment.

An examination of the political and social characteristics particular to Scandinavia which have made women's rise to power more rapid than in other regions of the world, this study also explores how the resulting election of women has provided valuable evidence of the impact of women leaders and their leadership style. Solheim begins with a critical survey of feminist scholarship regarding the equality-difference debate and the application of such research on the position of women in international politics. He concludes, in this respect, that leadership style may have less to do with gender than one might initially suspect. Archival research and interviews with women in leadership roles provide the reader with a closer look at the Scandinavian system, a view that will challenge gender stereotypes around the world.

Provides battle-tested business wisdom from the Virgin Queen.

Chicana Leadership features fifteen essays from the notable women's journal Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies that demonstrate the strength and diversity of Chicanas as well as their continuing struggle to have their voices heard. Noted scholars discuss issues ranging from the feminist prototype La Malinche to Chicana writers and national ideology, from gender and identity to ideas of culture and romance, and from tokenism to the diversity within the Chicana community.

Byzantine Empresses provides a series of biographical portraits of the most significant Byzantine women who ruled or shared the throne between 527 and 1204. It presents and analyses the available historical data in order to outline what these empresses did, what the sources thought they did, and what they wanted to do.