Negotiating between Gender and Leadership Identity: A Discursive Analysis of Workplace Meetings

Abstract

This article explores how male and female leaders discursively construct and negotiate between their gender and leadership identity as they chair meetings. Drawing upon discourse analysis as a method, the study explores the discursive enactment of leadership by two male and two female leaders. The study focuses on the elements of compliance and resistance to stereotypical discourse styles. The analysis reveals that the features of interactional styles employed by these male and female leaders indicate compliance as well as resistance to the normative associations of discourse features. The study concludes that as male and female leaders effectively employ discourse features form both masculine and feminine discourse styles, they not only contest the normative associations of discourse features with particular genders but also present them as neutral linguistic means accessible to both male and female leaders. The finding of this study holds particular significance because it highlights the transformative potential of language and the role it can play in promoting alternative models of leadership beyond normative masculine models.