Generation, gender, and leadership : Metaphors and images

- Burkinshaw, Paula, White, Kate

Title
Generation, gender, and leadership : Metaphors and images
Creator
Burkinshaw, Paula; White, Kate
Date
2020
Type
Text; Journal article
Identifier
http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/175200
Identifier
vital:14925
Identifier
https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2020.517497
Identifier
ISBN:2504-284X
Abstract
This article explores the metaphors and images used by different generations of women to describe women's leadership in higher education (HE) and the impact these perceptions have on their careers and career ambitions. It also explores how such metaphors and images can position them as “other,” silence their voices in the dominant masculinist discourse, and marginalize them. The emphasis in the gender and higher education literature has been on identifying the barriers that impede women's progress in academic organizations, including images of continuing hegemonic masculine leadership, and their promotion to leadership positions. These models position women leaders who are assertive as troublemakers, and women as “the problem” either because of their attitudes or perceived domestic and family responsibilities. And while women leaders are often not gender conscious, they are frequently doing gender in their senior roles. The metaphors and images that portray women's leadership are often of hidden work, supporting more senior males, or “ivory basement” leadership. Combined, they suggest a deficit model that positions women as lacking for top jobs, and institutions therefore needing to “fix the women” generally through leadership development programmes, sponsorship and mentoring. The article examines the metaphors and images used to describe women's leadership across two generations. Older women often saw their leadership as conforming to male leadership models, as fitting in, and not challenging or unsettling their male colleagues. However, a younger generation of leaders or prospective leaders had a very different set of metaphors for their leadership. They saw themselves as unsupported by what they described as the current mediocre, institutional leaders, weighed down by inexorable organizational restructure, and merely in survival mode. Hence, they refused to accept the masculinist leadership model which they perceived as ineffectual, outdated and not meeting their needs. The article suggests that the prevailing culture in higher education leadership and the metaphors and images used to describe successful leadership narrows the options for women leaders. While older women were prepared to accept current masculinist leadership, younger women had contempt for the way it marginalized them while at the same time encouraging them to lift their game and had a different set of metaphors and images to portray what successful leadership should look like. © Copyright © 2020 Burkinshaw and White.
Publisher
Frontiers Media S.A.
Relation
Frontiers in Education Vol. 5, no. (2020), p. 1-10
Rights
All metadata describing materials held in, or linked to, the repository is freely available under a CC0 licence
Rights
http://creativecommons.org/by/4.0/
Rights
Copyright © 2020 Burkinshaw and White. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Published version
Rights
Open Access
Subject
Generations; Higher education—women in academia; Images; Leadership; Metaphors; Women; 13 Education
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