Communicative Understandings of Women's Leadership Development
From Ceilings of Glass to Labyrinth Paths
Contributions by Alice H. Eagly, Janie Harden Fritz, Tamara L. Burke, Ned S. Laff, Erin L. Payseur, Diane A. Forbes Berthoud, Sheri A. Whalen, Amy C. Branam, Nathalie Duval-Couetil, Rebecca L. Dohrman, Jenna Stephenson, Melissa Wood Alemà , Jennifer A. Malkowski, Cara Jacocks, Tracey Quigley Holden, Sandra L. French Edited by Elesha L. Ruminski, Annette M. Holba
Publication date:
17 November 2011Length of book:
242 pagesPublisher
Lexington BooksISBN-13: 9780739166437
Thus, Communicative Understandings of Women's Leadership Development claims a space for women's leadership studies and acknowledges the paradigmatic shift from discussing women's leadership using the glass ceiling phenomenon to what Eagly and Carli (2007) identify as the labyrinth of leadership. Recognizing this metaphoric shift is crucial because many women now develop leadership amid the postmodern flux of organizational change; hierarchical, top-down systems are being eroded in lieu of transformational, collaborative, even improvisational leadership processes.
Women's leadership studies is emerging as a fruitful interdisciplinary area that reframes the debate about whether we live, work, and learn within a third-wave feminist or post-feminist context. While this area might include feminist theorizing, it also might not emphasize such epistemologies. For this reason, Ruminski and Holba's edited collection explores and highlights a variety of feminist and non-feminist intersections, and is thus an important and timely contribution to both marking where we are with women's leadership development in higher education and how women can further develop themselves as leaders.
“Ruminski and Holba have crafted a new look at women and leadership, explaining that the lack of gender equality stems from multiple causes necessitating the metaphor of a labyrinth rather than a glass ceiling. The editors and authors strike neither a falsely positive view of changes in women's leadership roles, nor do they decry and disparage the success that has occurred. In short, this reader provides new information and new ways of viewing known realities. This volume would be highly useful for college classes on communication, leadership, and women's studies.”—Judy Pearson, North Dakota State University