Global Women Leaders

Studies in Feminist Political Rhetoric

Contributions by William Carney, Charlotte Evans, Valerie M. Hennings, Nicole Khoury, Janet M. Martin, Kathleen Mollick, Catherine Waithera Mwangi, Oscar Gakuo Mwangi, Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar, Laura Steckman, Joy Williams-Black Edited by Michele Lockhart, Kathleen Mollick

Publication date:

24 September 2014

Length of book:

198 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9780739193419

Global Women Leaders: Studies in Feminist Political Rhetoric demonstrates the ways in which women have used political rhetoric and political discourse to provide leadership, or assert their right to leadership, on a global level. This collection fits into the robust research area of international political women and their use of language in gaining and maintaining political power. It casts a wider net in terms of discussing women’s efforts to assert and preserve their roles of authority, particularly when their audiences may perceive their authority as illegitimate due to gender. Chapters dedicated to Elizabeth II and Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser discuss the more traditional ways in which women leaders use language to construct political power. Other chapters focus on women who serve as political activists, either individually or as part of a group, including Aasma Mahfouz of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 and the women who help direct United Nations policy through their speeches in the General Assembly. Global Women Leaders will appeal to scholars of political communication and international rhetoric.

Introduction, Janet M. Martin

Part I: The Elizabeths: Women and Leadership in the United Kingdom
Chapter 1: “The Heart of a King”: Gender Components Affecting the Leadership and Political Rhetoric of Elizabeth I, Charlotte Evans
Chapter 2:Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Diana: Saving the Monarchy, Kathleen Mollick

Part II: Maathai, Ogot, and Ngilu: Women and Leadership in Kenya
Chapter 3: Environmental Conservation, Peace, Democracy, and Development: A Case Study of Wangari Maathai’s Speeches, Catherine Waithera Mwangi and Oscar Gakuo Mwangi
Chapter 4: The “Extension of Self in Service”: An Analysis of Female Kenyan Political Leaders, Joy Williams-Black

Part III: When Nations Unite: A Global Community of Female Leaders in the United Nations
Chapter 5: Women’s Rhetorical Leadership within the United Nations, Valerie M. Hennings and Laura Steckman
Chapter 6: Samantha Power: Before and After “Hell”, William Carney

Part IV: Global Figures: Social Issues and Social Media
Chapter 7: Assessing the Rhetoric of Sheikha Moza: Mistress of Ethos, Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar
Chapter 8: Religiously Gendered: Online Political Discourse in the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, Nicole Khoury

Global Women Leaders is an important first step in developing our understanding of how female leaders use language and rhetoric to enhance their political authority and influence within different cultural, religious, and historical contexts. The authors of this collection address an important gap in the literature by bringing together feminist scholarship with leadership studies and rhetorical discourse analysis to examine a range of women leaders from the United Kingdom to Kenya to those operating at regional and global levels. This convergence of approaches is increasingly critical as more and more women rise to leadership positions and strategically use language to empower themselves and the communities that they seek to represent. This volume should encourage more research on the agency of these powerful women and the political decisions that they make about using language as a leadership tool.