Learning to deploy (in)visibility: An examination of women leaders’ lived experiences

Abstract

This article focuses on women's learning from their lived experiences of leadership. In an examination of how six women leaders at a UK University learn to deploy (in)visibility, I draw on conceptualisations of (in) visibility more commonly found in feminist research. These include surface ideas of (in)visibility as states of exclusion or difference due to a lack of women in leadership roles, and deeper ideas of how states of visibility and invisibility are maintained through power relations. I also refer to ideas on how (in)visibility operates and is produced and reproduced through organisational processes and practices. This analysis extends critical perspectives of leadership learning and development. Specifically, it adds to understandings of the tacit nature of social and situated learning through an articulation of the ways in which gender and power operate in women's learning of leadership from experiences of (in)visibility. This article concludes by indicating further areas for research, including more developed understandings of women's learning to think strategically from experience, examining the role of management educators in revealing women's leadership learning and identifying methodologies to examine women leaders' learning experiences.

Constructing Women’s Leadership Representation in the UK Press During a Time of Financial Crisis: Gender capitals and dialectical tensions

“…2007;Ryan et al, 2011). The focus on styles and behaviours reinforces the conceptualisation of gender as something that individuals have, or are, rather than what they do (Liu, Cutcher & Grant, 2015) leading to the perpetuation of gender binaries (Askehave & Zethsen, 2015) that reify existing power relations (Lamsa & Sintonen, 2001;Stead & Elliott, 2009). Post-heroic leadership models heralded new ways of performing leadership deemed to be more feminine, but they too are underpinned by a difference perspective that continues to stereotype women leaders (Billing & Alvesson, 2000;Fletcher, 2004).…”

Critical Reflection on the Nature of Campus Female Students’ Aspiration for Leadership Positions

“…On the other hand, Stead (2013) found out that, men who are in leadership appeared to have little if any, detrimental influence on females in regard to their expectations, achievements, and involvement in leadership. This implies that their expectations and aspirations in leadership are less divergent at Higher Education level than at lower levels of education.…”

“…Apart from acquiring knowledge on how gender and power interact with leadership in HE (Brown, 2011;Morley, 2013;Stead, 2013;Voelkar, 2016), questions are raised about the relentless misrecognition of women's leadership capacities and suggests the need for an expanded chain of leadership with which to move into the University of the Future (Morley, 2013). Despite the many positive and productive changes observed in the leadership opportunities for women and girls, they remain highly under-represented in positional leadership roles (Bong, Cho, Ahn & Kim, 2012;Morley, 2014;Nicholas & Nicholas, 2014& Voelkar, 2016.…”

The Intersections of Gender and Power in Women Veterans’ Experiences of Substance Use and Va Care

“…While it is evident that the military is a “gendered institution” (Barrett :141) in which stereotypical gender norms and expectations are reenacted in everyday social interactions reproducing systems of dominance and power (Green et al, ; Whitworth ), little is known about how these processes unfold in VA health care settings. By using Kanter's () work on tokenism as our starting point and drawing on anthropological theories of gender and violence, we show that the VA, similar to other male‐dominated spaces, represents a gendered organization where everyday social interactions reproduce and maintain gender inequalities (Stead ). Through an in‐depth exploration of women Veterans’ experiences of seeking VA care, we argue that the gender inequalities that women experience during active duty are mirrored in their experiences of accessing VA substance use treatment settings—male‐dominated spaces—and undermine the effectiveness of treatment for women Veterans with trauma histories who are abusing alcohol and drugs.…”