Women’s Leadership Identity

Abstract

Our focus in this chapter is to draw on the analyses we presented in previous chapters and consider the implications these raise for women’s leadership identity. We explore why women are not readily identified as leaders particularly when, as the quote from Sayeeda Khan above illustrates, your appearance contrasts with received understandings of what leaders look like and can elicit negative responses. Drawing on Ashcraft and Mumby’s (2004) framework the chapter’s objective is to consider how discourse organises identity. That is, we will examine the relationship between broader societal narratives of gender and dominant discourses in organisations and work towards making sense of how certain discourses of leadership identity come to be privileged. We recognise that the topic of identity is a much contested and debated field. Alvesson, Ashcraft and Thomas (2008) note that within organisation studies identity can be associated with a range of organisational processes and intervention, from company mergers and project teams through to motivation and politics. Collinson (2003) examines the influence of organisations.

And in this job I do have to try to please a lot of people. I try and appeal to a lot of people to do fund raising, and to try and keep the membership happy and try and keep the staff happy, but also try and be challenging. And I do get patronised by various people. Of course I do, you know. I am youngish – although people say that I look younger than I am and that doesn’t help – a few grey hairs won’t hurt.

—Sayeeda Khan (Senior leader in a UK charitable organisation)