Women in Leadership: Interpersonal networks in the navigation of gendered barriers in the BC Public Service
Date
2019-09-26
Authors
Carnie, Jennifer
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Abstract
The study determines how women in BC Public Service leadership use informal relationships to strategically navigate systemic barriers to leadership success. For example, do women build fluid and intuitive, undocumented mechanisms for strategic leadership positioning to navigate subtle processes of inequality and exclusivity at the foundation of gender bias in a public service context? Further, the research uncovers whether some women use access to interpersonal connectivity in leadership to improve their position for exclusive membership in the limited-member elite leadership pool. The dichotomous states of a leadership approach are defined in terms of masculinist and femininist types built on the characteristics of a colonial and patriarchal system and hierarchy of leadership success. The research questions whether gender stereotypical ideals flourish in public service leadership as they relate to how men and women are distinctly rewarded in leadership for the generalist characteristics associated with masculine and feminine and/or traditional and modern ontological approaches. The second purpose of this study is to establish a discourse for all public service leaders in terms of acknowledging gender biases built into dominant interpersonal leadership processes of organizational functionality.
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Keywords
Women, Leadership, Gender, Gender Equality