Movers and Shakers: How and Why Women Become and Remain Engaged in Community Leadership

Abstract

This research examines women's narratives regarding the experiences that lead to becoming, sustaining, and challenging active community leaders. Seventeen women neighborhood leaders, age 28 to 73 years, completed in-depth interviews. Qualitative thematic content analyses identified prominent themes in participants' responses that were subsequently linked to a generativity framework. Analyses revealed that leaders reported circuitous rather than linear paths of emerging community participation and growing up among others who demonstrated an ethos of care in informal as well as formal community practices. Women's initial community engagement was most often in response to invitations to address community needs. Both communal and agentic rewards and challenges to community involvement were identified. Based upon the findings, strategies for promoting and sustaining women's community leadership are identified.Although there is broad recognition of women's responsibilities and skills in the private domain, women's roles in the public domain of community, nation, and world are less prominent. For example, women's leadership in managing and promoting the growth and development of family and friends is often acknowledged, yet women are routinely underrepresented in formal civic leadership positions around the world. Essentially, this means that the public fails to benefit from the skills and insights that women might otherwise bring to bear on diverse public issues. Moreover, this situation restricts the opportunities to nurture women's skills, interests, and networks that, in turn, foster women's

Empowering Others: Motives and Strategies Successful Ghanaian Women Adopt

“…It has been argued that women leaders' experiences and practice, particularly outside their business and commercial environments, are neither well documented nor analysed, nor are they reflected in current leadership theory (Elliott and Stead 2008). Nonetheless, Bond et al (2008) argue that although women have largely been absent from many formal, public, and civic arenas, they have been more visible in informal local leadership roles, as evidenced in grassroots neighbourhood and community movements.…”

“…I take active part in everything we do here as a community, and if there is something the community needs, you can be sure that I'll be in the lead. Bond et al (2008) posit that women's community engagement in turn contributes to their own development, as women involved in their communities report achieving more open-mindedness about people and ideas, a more positive self-image, and increased connections with people and community, among other self-developmental benefits. In light of this, it can be argued that success and community engagement in women have a reciprocal relationship.…”

Perceptions of Research in Education for Sustainable Development: An International Perspective

“…Adopting a mixed methods approach (Bond, Holmes, Byrne, Babchuck, & Kirton-Robbins, 2008;Jithoo, 2010;Hutchins, Hastie, Starkey, Hilton, & Clark, 2005, etc. ) in the analysis of qualitative data constituted a hybrid technique, which according to Bauer and Gaskell (2000) is highly flexible and can be adapted to the research questions, the participants, the method of data collection and characteristics of data.…”

Experiences of women leaders in non-profit organizations in northern BC.

“…As discussed above, women experience a longer and more complicated journey in their pursuit of leadership positions which was validated through interviews with women leaders about their leadership journeys (Bond, Holmes, Byrne & Babchuck, 2008). Through interviews, women leaders also described how participating in leadership led to positive change in their lives, including being more open-minded, experiencing a more positive selfimage, developing relationships, and gaining new understanding and knowledge (Bond et al, 2008).…”