Full Description
This groundbreaking book presents a new way of looking at leadership that is anchored in research on women leaders in education. The authors examine how successful women in education lead and offer suggestions and ideas for developing and honing these exemplary leadership practices. Women and Educational Leadership shows how the qualities that characterize women's approaches to leadership differ from traditional approaches?whether the traditional leader is a woman or a man. The authors reveal that women leaders are more collaborative by nature and demonstrate a commitment to social justice. They tend to bring an instructional focus to leadership, include spiritual dimensions in their work, and strive for balance between the personal and professional.
This important book offers a new model of leadership that shifts away from the traditional heroic notion of leadership to the collective account of leadership that focuses on leadership for a specific purpose—like social justice. The authors include illustrative examples of leaders who have brought diverse groups to work toward common ground. They also show how leadership is a way to facilitate and support the work of organizational members. The ideas and suggestions presented throughout the book can help the next generation fulfill the promise of a new tradition of leadership.
Women and Educational Leadership is part of the Jossey-Bass Leadership Library in Education series.
Contents
Foreword by Beverly Hall ix
Introduction: Women Leaders Redefine Leadership 1
1. Five Ways Women Lead 5
Relational Leadership 6
Leadership for Social Justice 10
Spiritual Leadership 13
Leadership for Learning 18
Balanced Leadership 21
2. Our Status: Women School Administrators 27
History of Gender and School Leadership Research 31
Gender and Leading for Change 36
3. A New Way: Diverse Collective Leadership 41
Leading Collectively for Change 44
Relational Power 46
Social Network Theories and Change 48
Fluid Lines of Communication 51
The Power of Cognitive Shifts 54
Stages of Cognitive Shifts 57
4. A Closer Look at Collective Leadership in Practice 63
From Distributed Leadership to Diverse Collective Leadership 64
Three Ways to Support a Dynamic Culture 66
The Power of Integration: A Personal Skill 69
Working With and Through Others 72
School as Social Movement 75
5. Beyond Gender? 83
Leadership Shaped by Women 84
Making Meaning of Leadership 89
Embracing the Power of the Collective 92
Sustainable Leadership 96
Conclusion: Generating the Power of a Diverse Collective 101
References 107
Index 123
