Reflections on Identity, Gender, and Leadership
There is a sense in the Handbook of Leadership Theory & Practice, of two not-incompatible leadership definitions. Several chapters (Power and Leadership, Leadership in a Globalized World, etc.) focused on the functional aspects of leaders—what they do, how they perform, and outcomes of their performance. Other authors took a different approach to understanding leaders based on identity; a comparison between doing and being (cf 370, 394, 658).
Throughout the text, I primarily explored chapters most relevant to my own growth as a leader. As a woman who’s been in leadership, but not in roles I would choose for myself, I found myself dwelling on the frustrating realities of Women in Leadership (chapter 14) and some hopeful descriptions of Identity-based Leadership Development (chapter 22).
First, the struggles: I recognize and have seen examples of the double bind placed on women in 
leadership (to either be liked or respected, but not both). More importantly for me though, women in traditionally male-dominated settings often have difficulty breaking into the “old boys” loop of advice and professional development opportunities (380). Yes. Yes. Yes. It is the informal chatting over beer or golf, networking with buddies (hanging out) that I see as most challenging to the opportunities women are given. [W]omen who are scrambling to build careers while raising children have… difficulty finding time for the social activities that help forge professional relationships. After the workday ends, men are picking up tips over golf and drinks; women are picking up “laundry, dinner, and the house (381). I’ve experienced this personally with my husband going out with his colleagues while fellow female faculty are not invited (“she wouldn’t want to come anyway”), or the late night cigars smoked while I am home with the kids. I sense frustration on my husband’s part when I attempt to spend time with him and his friends, with him asserting I’m not independent, while I attempt to use that time to get into the “boys’ club”; his frustration that I prefer “instrumental” relationships with leaders (usually men) in informal networks (660), rather than conversations about shopping or nails or hair.
I confess I’m having a hard time communicating this clearly, probably because this chapter hits close to home for me. I don’t want to appear at odds with my husband, but the reality is that he has “advanced” as a leader within our networks, while I have not. It’s not hard for me to consider that part of the reason is that he has been given opportunities to “learn through experience” (The Experience Conundrum, 705, etc.) and has built upon those informal social network relationships, and I have “chosen” a job with lesser compensation and fewer responsibilities than [I was] qualified to assume in order to accommodate family responsibilities (383). The reality for me, as recent evidence suggests…[is that] the sexes have increasingly similar employment aspirations and that women’s unequal opportunities to realize their potential ill serves all concerned (388-389).
There’s so much more I’m still processing about this chapter on women in leadership, but I also want to explore the being of leaders, our identity. The authors of Identity-Based Leadership Development apparently journeyed to England with us (who knew?). Either that, or Jason explored this model when creating our doctoral program. Ibarra et al identify and encourage experimenting with new possible professional selves (665) through a process of separation, transition, and incorporation. The exploration of Victor Turner’s concept of liminality is something I’ve studied previously (spoiler—and plan to incorporate in my ethnography). To one extent or another, we are all dissatisfied with our current situation, which has led us to pursue this doctoral program (665). Our experience in London/Oxford was liminal for us, creating the opportunity to separate from our comfortable contexts at home (666). And while the Advance was in a bounded time and place, we will continue to cycle through liminality and incorporation throughout our doctoral program (and hopefully, beyond). As we seek to incorporate our new experimental identities as leaders into fresh situations, Ibarra et al emphasize the value of external assessments based on the observations and reactions of role-set members who offer explicit or implicit feedback (667). That’s us! That’s the Sevens! As we individually seek to re-create our identity as leaders, we trust in the feedback from others, and especially from one another. It is only when we take into account…. the socially grounded nature of incorporation processes will we see sustainable identity change (668). This process is hopeful and exciting.
I will close, though, with a point of discouragement. Ibarra et al suggest that professional identities are claimed and granted in social interaction (659, italics mine). While I may claim a particular identity as a leader, such as a pastor, it is left to my social network to grant such an identity. The reality is that I am a woman seeking to be recognized as a leader in a highly patriarchal church movement. While some congregations and non-profits in our movement have acknowledged the leader skills of some women, the majority of our institutions have not. For some of us, the hope was [that] the filling of the pipeline would take care of the problem, but it is now clear that time alone is not the answer (377). This is not only a loss for the individual women who are skilled, gifted, and aspirational, but for the Church as a whole: A lack of gender diversity can also limit an organization’s opportunities for learning and renewal (389). Or to suggest the same concept in spiritual language, when gifts of the Holy Spirit, given to the Church through a part of the Body of Christ are prevented from being used, the entire Body suffers (1 Co. 12.7). This is as true for the woman (or man) who refuses to use her gifts, as it is for the church that refuses to allow the gifts given to women to be used.
About the Author
Katy Drage Lines
In God’s good Kingdom, some minister like trees, long-standing, rooted in a community. They embody words of Wendell Berry, “stay years if you would know the genius of the place.” Others, however, are called to go. Katy is one of those pilgrims. A global nomad, Katy grew up as a fifth generation Colorado native, attended college & seminary and was ordained in Tennessee, married a guy from Pennsylvania, ministered for ten years in Kenya, worked as a children’s pastor in a small church in Kentucky, and served college students in a university library in Orange County, California. She recently moved to the heart of America, Indianapolis, and has joined the Englewood Christian Church community, serving with them as Pastor of Spiritual Formation. She & her husband Kip, have two delightful boys, a college junior and high school junior.9 responses to “Reflections on Identity, Gender, and Leadership”
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Katy, thanks for all of this. It is good and important for those of us in traditional positions of privilege to hear about the realities and struggles that others face.
I really appreciated, to the idea you focused on about our identities as leaders being claimed and granted….. there is definitely a strong connection to leadership in the Christian community context – the Presbyterian ordination process relies heavily on community discernment.
As to the leadership being granted, I wonder if it isn’t important to connect to what I focused on in my blog about the how in our current context authority is given through relationships…. in other words it is often ‘earned’. We have talked about this off-line before – your living out your calling as a leader in your Christian community, even when that leadership might not have been accepted, has in some ways opened the door for that leadership to be accepted – because they already know you and know your leadership.
Keep on leading!
Thanks for the encouragement, Chip. We certainly appear to be in a place of transition as (neo)post-modernity sinks in and old structures shift. Even old structures of leadership seem no longer viable, although they still appear to dominate our institutions. I am curious how this will continue to evolve.
First of all – WHAT is liminality Katy? It’s a word you keep using and I have no idea what it means! Please do enlighten me!?
Secondly, thank you for your thoughts and insights on being a woman in leadership. While my denomination accepts and ordains women pastors, it is still a male-dominated domain. It is obviously an area that I have not experienced in the same way as you and I find your insights enlightening and informative!
I do wonder though, if your lack of advancement has more to do with your reptile-handling proclivities. Your card may have been marked?
Liminality! One of my favorite concepts! Elaborated by anthropologist Victor Turner, liminality is a threshold, a place of crossing over. Liminality is that in-between place, a time/place of transition. The place between departure and arrival. In fact, I’m writing this on a cross-country flight right now; a liminal time/place. Liminal is what happens during camps or retreats (or Advances!), as we are pulled out of our ordinary routines into something temporarily disruptive, in order to return changed to our place. Liminal is transformative rituals– baptisms, weddings, which move us from one reality to a new reality. It is crossing the threshold of the wardrobe into Narnia. (see Ibarra’s article p666).
“As we seek to incorporate our new experimental identities as leaders into fresh situations, Ibarra et al emphasize the value of external assessments based on the observations and reactions of role-set members who offer explicit or implicit feedback (667). That’s us! That’s the Sevens!”
Wow, Katy, it’s all so true.
Just the other day in the car my husband and I got onto a rather deep philosophical, theological topic. We had a great time discussing it. I am thankful I can share that with my husband. God has blessed me.
BUT, I can’t talk like that in my church. It’s not appropriate for women to discuss theology.
SO, I am thankful for the SEVENS! Ya’ll let me talk like that and even if you didn’t see eye to eye with me on something you wouldn’t be disagreeing because of my gender!
Great post as always giving so much to think about. Thank you.
Katy, Many women of God Leaders face challenges of the good ole boys playground in the church structure (I’m not going to say Christian) using 1 Timothy. We know and they know that there are powerful women in the bible who served God well under his direction. So to not lose power, they stand on Timothy and ignore hearing the wisdom of God. God’s will is being done through you in a mighty way, and your acknowledgment is through Him.
I don’t know if you are aware of Joyce Meyers – she was rejected by her church leaders, members, and friends when she acknowledged her calling. Look at her now! Be Steadfast my sister.
Katy thank you for your vulnerability and transparency in this post. There is so much that I can say in my reflections on this post. Yes indeed social networking plays a huge role in developing relationships and career advancement. I have found over the years that I have had many after work activities where it was just myself and the guys hanging out. Although all of our life I was deemed a Tomboy, I never took please in talking “shopping, hair or nails” either! I sincerely enjoy playing sports, competing and doing activities that would not be associated to women.
I do not think there is a simple answer to how we “break through the glass ceiling” or dismantle the systematic barriers that are restrictive to women. I think we have to continue to press on forward. Use our creativity, tenacity and strength to continue to persevere. Every step forward we make paves the way for the generations that are coming behind us.
Despite that fact that in some areas we have come so far we still have so much farther to go.
So true, Christal.
Our friendship has been such a rich redemptive one for me, to find women in this cohort who think and push and challenge one another.
One inspiration for me is moving the bar for gifted women of future generations.
I’m almost not certain how to respond because your post stirs up so much in me. The discouragement, the frustration, the hope, and the struggle. It’s overwhelming. I think I have come to a place of resignation that we will continue to make progress and, hopefully with further research and work, future generations will struggle less than we do.
I particularly identified with your discussion of claimed and granted leadership. My husband was constantly being offered opportunities to speak and preach (NOT his gifting) while, even as other leaders recognized my gift they rarely granted me the opportunity to lead (even in a strongly egalitarian church). It became exhausting because I was facing it both at church and at work. This is why I have landed on influence as the leadership ideal so that the future will hopefully change.