Wednesday, July 6, 2011

#dmingml How do African women leaders compare to Western definitions of leadership?

Given that I have been studying various leadership paradigms around the world, I was intrigued by Women’s Spiritual Leadership in Africa: Tempered Radicals and Critical Servant Leaders by Faith Wambura Ngunjiri.

Ngunjiri has thoughtfully and insightfully presented her portraits of 16 African women in leadership positions (7 of them are in-depth accounts), you begin to realize that the two concepts she highlights is actually how she defines “Spiritual Leadership.”

From her introduction on the general status of women in Africa to her qualitative research on these Kenyan women in leadership, Ngunjiri shows us how many of these women have endured significant abuse and gender discrimination on the way to being appointed to their respective leadership roles and in the fulfillment of those responsibilities. They have overcome repressive beliefs and attitudes about the role of women deeply ingrained in their culture, that fueled limited access to resources, education and professional opportunities.

From the portraits provided by Ngunjiri, one cannot help but admire these women. They represent women who have had to endure more than we can imagine and in the process become incredibly resourceful problem solvers –

·       Forced early marriages and female circumcision

·       Constant discrimination and physical abuse by men angered by women pursuing an education with the goal of seeing a more socially and economically just society emerge

·       Hunger, disease, wars, rape, corruption, divorce, dislocation, and trauma. The list goes on.

While we may not question commonly held definitions of leadership in the West, we cannot help but come away with a sense that when compared to the journeys of these African women in leadership, our Western definitions come across rather sterile andinnocuous.

Leading by example is important, as is inspiring a shared vision, challenging antiquated and redundant processes, and encouraging others to act. But leadership is more than this.

Ngunjiri defines it as “a process of involving intentional influence upon people to guide and facilitate their activities and relationships in a group or an organization.” It is also “a process of meaning making among people to engender commitment to common goals, expressed in a community of practice.” It is “more than a position rather, it is the ability of one person to respond to a call to her or his life that necessitates action…”

It is from these characteristics that she asks what does it mean to be a woman leader in an African context? Her framework consists of three elements: Africana spirituality, tempered radicalism, and servant leadership.

The first one, Africana spirituality refers more to ubiquitous nature of religious consciousness. African people share a spirituality, not a religion that is distinctively African where its understanding of God is as the definitive source and sustainer of life. This perspective reinforces a spirit of humility and an understanding that a great responsibility has been entrusted to the leader.

The second element of her framework pertains to Tempered Radicalism. This describes leaders who did not fit the “majority mold” or status quo. According to Meyerson (2001), they are men and women who find themselves as poor fits with the dominant culture of their organizations.” They are people who want to fit in while at the same time retain what makes them different. As Ngunjiri discovered, for women in Kenya, leadership often meant refusing to act like men in a male-dominated institution within a predominantly patriarchal culture.

“Tempered radicals reflect important aspects of leadership that are absent in the more traditional portraits. It is leadership that tends to be less visible, lesscoordinated, and less vested with formal authority; it is also more local, more diffuse, more opportunistic, and more humble than the activity attributed to the modern-day here. This version of leadership depends not on charismatic flair, instant success, or inspirational visions, but on qualities such as patience, self-knowledge, humility, flexibility, idealism, vigilance and commitment.”

For Ngunjiri, the third element of African spiritual leadership is servant leadership. This concept stems from the work of Robert K. Greenleaf (1977) and it essentially runs counter to the dominant leadership theories that espouse traditional uses of power, authority and hierarchy to tell people what to do. Servant leadership is less coercive and more collaborative. The leader is servant first, and leader second. It is a paradigm that seeks to develop and invest in the people they are leading.

I need to read this book again. There’s great wisdom and inspiration to be found.

4 comments:

  1. Hi, I am a student of Gender and Development at Kigali Institute of Education in Kigali - Rwanda. I am also a father of two daughters and my comments will be about leadership and empowering fatherhood.

    First of all, though African leadership faces a lot of criticisms, I think it is appropriate to address African problems in its right context.

    Secondly, I admire tempered leadership as leaders, despite the so called 'Western leadership' principles and theories, I totally agree that leaders should be themselves.

    Thirdly, when I saw servant leadership, it reminded me of companies which made it 'from good to great', by Jim Collins. in the book, this is a unique trait discovered from Level Five leaders.

    Women are great leaders if they are empowered. As a father, I am asking myself how I can impact my daughters and make sure they live to the fullest of their potentials. Women as mothers especially in the African context, learn to serve first before they lead. I do think that we, men should learn from their humility coupled with strong will to make things happen.

    Cheers to all who believe women can, and indeed do, make a difference!

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  2. Hello,
    I am a female Rwandese student of Masters of Social Science Gender, Culture and Development at Kigali Institute of Education (KIE) in Kigali - Rwanda. My comments will emphasize on the leadership by African Women amidst hardships and what should be done to motivate them.
    First and foremost, African women leaders face many challenges coupled with their everyday duties in a patriarchal culture. This is in no way compared to the western culture. African women leaders are expected to be submissive to their male counterparts either as wives or sisters and serve in the society and also in their homes then lead. According to “AFRICAN WOMEN LEADERS” retrieved from http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~abdul20j/classweb/Politics_116/AWIP.html , in many African societies, it is believed that as a result of a woman’s metabolism and her duty of bearing and bringing up children, she has little time for anything other than the upkeep of her household.
    Although it is valid that the maintenance of a household and upbringing of children is time consuming, it seems that the proponents of this argument forget that the leaders in their societies were also brought up by women or maternal figures. In effect, African women do have the capacity to create a positive influence in the lives of people. Perhaps women leaders are even more adept at being leaders than their male counterparts as they spend a great part of their lives being unofficial leaders.
    Certain factors that these women have to endure left constant and given the capacity they need, they make great leaders. In order to encourage more women to participate in leadership and government, it is necessary that the community and world as a whole give them the support needed. Instead of downplaying the efforts of African women, people could encourage them either by listening to their views in an objective manner, participating in women initiated activities, and helping eradicate the social stigma and discrimination against women in leadership and African women in general.
    Big ups to the African women leaders and their supporters, they are the best thing that Africa needs.

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  3. The patriarchal world we are living in is male dominated, male identified and male centered.
    What is common to these brave women who are inspiring us in this article is that they are learders in their field(spirituality).
    A Leader must be knowledgeable and knowledge is acquired through education.
    Every act towards giving education to women especially young girls is a solution to fight gender discrimination in the world.
    Bravo to Rwanda government for its support in promoting girls education

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  4. Hello I am a master’s woman student in Gender, culture and Development at Kigali Institute of Education in Rwanda. I went through your comments and I asked myself how does female leader look like?
    Indeed leadership involves organizing a group of people to achieve a common goal. And in patriarchal culture women’s experiences and challenges are frequently not valued. However women are able and maybe good leaders if they have opportunities.
    I agree with tempered radicals and servant leadership because a leadership is influenced and enhanced by relationship among leaders and followers who intend to have changes that reflect their purpose. Therefore leading through services while deconstructing patriarchy social and culture practices and providing positive alternative may be one of the best strategies for women to achieve or to show their capabilities
    African women leadership are able and can make difference, the rest of the world should take away the portrait given to them and rather trust them .
    Yes women can

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