Feminist Leadership for
Social Transformation
Srilatha Batliwala
Scholar Associate,
Building Feminist Movements & Organizations (BFEMO) Initiative
AWID (Association for Women’s Rights in Development)
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Questions to answer when trying to
understand abstract ideas (like leadership !)
3. What are the
boundaries?
(spatial, demographic,
conceptual)
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1. What is it?
Definitions of leadership,
of “feminine” leadership, and
feminist leadership
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Leadership definitions –
What the men have said
“That leader is best,
When people are hardly aware of his existence,
Not so good when people praise his government,
Less good when people stand in fear,
Worst, when people are contemptuous.
Fail to honor people, and they will fail to honor you.
But of a good leader, who speaks little,
When his work is done, his aim fulfilled,
The people say,
‘We did it ourselves’. ”
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching (6th – 4th Century B.C.)
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What the men have said - 2
• As for the best leaders, the people do not notice
their existence. The next best, the people honor and
praise. The next, the people fear; the next, the
people hate. Lao Tse
• My definition of a leader . . . is a man who can
persuade people to do what they don't want to do,
or do what they're too lazy to do, and like it. Harry
Truman
• Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into
reality. – Warren Bennis
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What the women have said: Defining
“feminine leadership”
• The feminine leadership style emphasizes
cooperation over competition; intuition as
well as rational thinking in problem solving,
team structures where power and influence
are shared within the group . . . interpersonal
competence; and participative decision
making. - Marilyn Loden
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Definitions of feminist leadership
• …. feminist …. leadership is … women and women’s
organizations sharing power, authority and decision-making in
our common pursuit of social, legal, political, economic and
cultural equality. DAWN Ontario, The Feminist Principle of
Leadership
• leadership should be about empowerment and aimed at
change; it is about building other women’s capacities and
confidence to be leaders in their communities. Mary
Hartmann
• Transformational leadership is leadership concerned with
causing social change; feminist transformational leadership is
concerned with achieving gender justice. Peggy Antrobus
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The best definition of feminist
leadership!
• To create something that replaces and surpasses you, that has
a life of its own because there are many people who will be
drawn into it and who will give leadership to it as a group,
even if you move on or go away. To me, that has always been
the measure of leadership… The point is that wherever we are
as women, wherever we are situated in our lives, we can
advance a feminist agenda if we stop thinking about how to
be leaders and think rather about how to be doers, how to be
agents” Gerda Lerner
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The clearest definition of feminist
leadership:
“Feminist leadership [is] oriented to a different arrangement of
the human order:
• Re-distribution of power and re-distribution of responsibilities,
beginning with transformation of psychic structures.
• Bridging personal freedom with collective freedom.
• Aiming at cooperation instead of competition. ….
• In feminist leadership equality, mutuality…. should be visible,
and promote…. emotionality and the values of relationships.
• feminist leadership [is] leadership congruent with feminist
principles.
ADMIRA toolkit on Organizational Development
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2. Where is it?
3. What are its boundaries?
Sites of feminist leadership & the
boundaries of our analysis
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Feminist leadership is practiced in virtually every
location that women inhabit and wherever
women negotiate their lives and their work:
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Self, family, clan, tribe
Peer group / school, etc.
Community / collective
Organizations
Political institutions
Movements
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Our Boundaries:
• We are concerned with the concept and practice of
feminist leadership in institutions and processes
concerned with promoting human rights, women’s
rights, gender equality, and social justice. Viz.,
 In judicial structures, political bodies, public administration
 In social movements and social change organizations
 In women’s movements and women’s organizations
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4. How does it work?
Unpacking the content of leadership
– the “Four Ps” of Power, Politics,
Principles and Practice
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The “Four Ps”
in the
Feminist
Leadership
Diamond
PRINCIPLES
POWER
Feminist
Leadership
POLITICS &
PURPOSE
PRACTICE
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THE ROLE OF THE SELF
history, experience
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Leadership as power & power
dynamics in organizations
• Visible / direct power – the visible hierarchy /
distribution of authority / roles
• Hidden power – who influences organizational
decisions / culture / agendas without any formal
/ direct power
• Invisible power – the manipulation of
organizational agendas / priorities, or people’s
sense of self-esteem
• Invisible and hidden power usually operate in the
“deep structures” of organizations
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Leadership as Politics & Purpose
• Politics means the analysis of the socioeconomic forces within which we operate, and
the ideological perspectives that inform our
analysis (profit, public good, gender equality,
social justice, etc.)
• Purpose is the vision and mission for change
that emerges from our politics – See AFF
Charter
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Leadership as Principles & Values
• Leadership does not occur in a moral, social,
or political vacuum
• It must embody and practice the values and
principles that inform the mission – see the
AFF Charter!
• It must create conscious and transparent
mechanisms for assessing whether the values
are being practiced an upheld, and revise /
expand them over time
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Leadership as Practice
• The pathways and methods by which we act
and organize our actions to achieve the
purpose
• Doing and enabling a myriad things –
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developing strategies,
training people,
assessing and seizing opportunities,
analyzing problems and challenges,
building morale and team spirit,
resolving conflict,
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5. What does it look like?
Myths, challenges, and
manifestations of feminist leadership
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Recap: Assumptions about power in
feminist organizations
• Because we’re all women, we don’t have to worry about
it (yes we do)
• We don’t have any hierarchy (because you have a hidden
/ invisible one)
• We are all equal here (no, we’re not)
• Formalizing decision-making power and systems is
patriarchal and bureaucratic (no, it’s more democratic
and transparent)
• I don’t have to be accountable to you because I am
accountable to “the movement” (Which one? Where?
How?)
• I should be allowed to get away with murder
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Myths about feminist leadership
• Feminists will lead differently / feminist organizations
should be utopias
• Feminists will share power more readily, more equally
/ feminist organizations will be flat and nonhierarchical
• Feminist leaders / organizations are inherently more
transparent, open, mature, etc.
• Feminists won’t exploit, oppress, or be unfair; they will
be superwomen / saints
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The challenges for practicing
feminist leadership
• Our conditioning in the use of power occurs before we
become feminist
• We have few positive / live examples or models of
good feminist power and leadership
• We are surrounded by patriarchal structures of power
and leadership
• We may embrace the theory, but our own histories,
experiences, identities, and personalities often get in
the way!
• This is painful journey of exploration and
experimentation – there are no templates on offer!
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Aspirations for / Ideals of feminist
leadership
• Transformational – simulating
within the changes sought
outside
• Explicit awareness and
attention to power dynamics transparency
• Not necessarily individualcentered
• Awareness of self
• Accountable to the larger goal,
vision and constituency
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• Multi-generational, with a special
focus on building young women’s
leadership
• Attempts to practice values of
transparency, accountability,
making hierarchies rational,
visible, and open to change
• Relational - building strong
trusting relationships.
• Creating safe environments for
expression, self-care, participation,
and growth of leadership skills.
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What the best women’s movements have
done to practice feminist leadership:
• Making leadership development a conscious part of their
movement-building strategy
• Ensuring that over a period of time, all members of the movement
get leadership opportunities, and a chance to build their leadership
capacity
• Building multiple layers and levels of leadership
• Creating collective – rather than individual – leadership structures
• Rotating leadership roles periodically, so that power does not
become entrenched
• Electing leaders democratically and holding them accountable to
their mandate
• Removing leaders who have violated the principles, politics, and
practices of feminist ldrship
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How can we begin to practice true
feminist leadership?
• Step 1: Analyzing and addressing power in our organizations –
most importantly, by unearthing the “deep structure” of our
organizations
• Step 2: examining and articulating our politics and purpose
• Step 3: Enunciating the principles and values that will frame /
guide our practice
• Step 4: Designing / re-designing our practice to harmonize
better with the other “P”s
• Step 5: ensuring mechanisms for checking how our “self” is
intruding / obstructing our practice, and taking responsibility
for dealing with this
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Suggested Exercise
• Map the deep structure of an organization you
work in / know well
• What negative aspects of these need to be
tackled to move towards feminist leadership
ideals?
• How can these negative aspects be tackled?
• What/who will help and what/who will hinder
our attempt to make these changes?
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