Global Perspectives on Women's Leadership and Gender (In)Equality

Elena V. Shabliy, Dmitry Kurochkin, Gloria Y. A. Ayee, Elena V. Shabliy, Dmitry Kurochkin, Gloria Y. A. Ayee

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9783030418212
• eBook ISBN: 9783030418229
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Business Strategy
• Index: Social Sciences

This interdisciplinary volume discusses women's global leadership and women's rights advancement, identifying gender inequality as a persisting societal challenge and a major barrier to human development. Drawing on intersectionality as an important analytic and methodological tool, the contributors analyse women's leadership roles across the world, featuring perspectives on the US, Israel, and Brazil, amongst other countries. The book also contributes to the growing field of leadership, presenting cross-cultural examples and case-studies of outstanding women and female leaders, as well as discussing contemporary leadership theories, and examining obstacles to women's leadership. Global Perspectives on Women's Leadership and Gender (In)Equality will be an important point of reference for students and scholars across the political sciences, women's studies, feminist philosophy, business development, and history.

© The Author(s) 2020

E. V. Shabliy et al. (eds.)Global Perspectives on Women’s Leadership and Gender (In)Equality https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41822-9_1

Begin Abstract

1. Women’s Leadership and Political Opportunity Structures

Elena V. Shabliy¹

(1)

Kathryn W. and Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

Elena V. Shabliy

End Abstract

Introduction

Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949) was published seventy years ago at the outset of second-wave feminism and presented a celebrated philosophical and meticulous study of women in their contemporary and historic(al) situations from various angles, such as psychoanalytical, historical, literary, and biological. De Beauvoir analyzes the feminine myth as it appears in works of famous writers highlighting that each separate author contributes to the great collective myth of women.¹ In works of thinkers she chooses to interpret, the woman appears as a privileged Other.² Women, according to de Beauvoir, belonged to this category for centuries: “she is the Other in a totality of which the two components are necessary to one another.”³ The Otherness is usually a hostile entity, as it is perceived by various social strata; De Beauvoir acknowledges a woman of letters and femme philosophe Olympe de Gouges (1748–1793) as one of those wo/men who dared to protest against their harsh destiny and unjust position.⁴ Gouges is known not only for her book The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen (1791), but also as one of the first advocates who defended women’s human rights and victims of injustice, and for demanding the emancipation of slaves.⁵

In 2019, another important work—John Stuart Mill’s essay “The Subjection of Women”—celebrated its 150th anniversary. Mill’s work is a culmination of the so-called first-wave feminist philosophical thought; it is symbolic that men supported women’s rights and preached their liberation and emancipation. Throughout centuries and across the globe—both males and females alike advocated the change in woman’s lot that was frequently compared to slaves’ position: “In early times, the great majority of the male sex were slaves, as well as the whole of the female.”⁶ Mill, referring to Plato’s Republic, underlines that “women of the privileged classes should be of manly character, inferior in nothing but bodily strength to their husband and fathers.” In the Republic , Plato discusses the role of women in the ideal state, and the problem of (in)justice is central to his dialogues. Plato aspires to be objective in his statements asserting that “one woman is musical in nature, one not, one medical by nature, one not,” “one woman is athletic or warlike, and another is unwarlike and unathletic,” “one loves wisdom and one hates it,” “one has high spirit, one no spirit,” and so forth.⁷ He concludes that women and men may have the same nature fit for guarding the ideal city, “only one is weaker and one is stronger.”⁸

Equality leads to the improvement of the moral sentiments of mankind, and inequality may undermine the foundations of social balance.⁹ The question of gender and equality is very important; and it is interrelated with the ancient issue of justice. What is justice? What is just? Plato and Mill like many other philosophers, such as Aristotle, Augustine, Kant, John Stuart Mill, John Rawls—to name but a few—dwell on this fundamental philosophical question.¹⁰ Madame de Staël was dreaming of that time when “philosophical legislators will bestow a serious attention upon the education of women, upon the civil laws by which they are protected, the duties incumbent upon them, and the happiness which may be secured to them.”¹¹ Thus, the question of gender equality was supranational. Mill names just a few examples of countries where women were silent:

France, and Italy, and Switzerland, and Russia now afford examples of the same thing. How many more women there are who silently cherish similar aspirations, no one can possibly know; but there are abundant tokens how many would cherish them, were they not so strenuously taught to repress them as contrary to the proprieties of their sex.¹²

The internationalism of the women’s movement spoke for itself; countless literary and philosophical works worldwide gradually had their impact on the betterment of women’s lot; and new possibilities for leadership opened up in the second half of the nineteenth century. Advanced wo/men initiated societal change and were sometimes negatively perceived by the public. They paved the way for women of future generations. However, it was not only in the Western world that women cried out for help over the centuries: women across the world experienced injustice and inequality.

The second wave of feminism began in the 1970s, and the third wave in the early 1990s. Despite the fact that women’s human rights advocacy has a long tradition, there is an ever-burgeoning interest in the field of gender and leadership; sustainable societies assume inclusion, belonging, and balance. It is crucial for individuals’ well-being and societies to harmonize economic growth, social inclusion, and environmental protection, in order to achieve sustainable development.¹³ Promotion of inclusive economic growth and creation of equal opportunities as well as raising standards of living are those aspects that nurture this societal democratic development; economic and technological development depends on many factors, such as culture, traditions, institutions, and, last but not least, history.

In the recent past, women faced exclusion and often were not treated fairly and equal...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Women’s Leadership and Political Opportunity Structures
• 2. Alicia Moreau de Justo: Transcending Generations
• 3. Magda Portal as Peruvian Poet, Radical, and Reformer
• 4. Rigoberta Menchú, an Indian Woman from Guatemala
• 5. Gender (In)Equality in the Creative Industries: Insights from Serbia
• 6. Developing Women Leaders in Business: Research Insights and Best Practices
• 7. Golda Meir: The Israeli Iron Lady
• 8. A Noticeable Woman in the Public Sphere: The Life of Israeli Journalist Hannah Semer (1924–2003)
• Back Matter