Synopses & Reviews
The book holds fascinating, scholarly case studies that should be of interest to professionals and students alike. It should receive high marks. --Journal of Leadership Studies the book raises some interesting questions and does provide some useful information for those wishing to increase their knowledge of the women leaders included. --Society Magazine Do women exercise power differently than men? Which elements are key to understanding executive performance: institutional structure, environment, role, and/or gender? This innovative study grapples with the difficult and controversial questions relating to gender and leadership. In an effort to develop a truly comparative study of women leaders, contributors were asked to focus their case studies around common questions: What was the political, social, and economic context at the time? What biographical factors were important to this leader's rise to power? What path to power did the leader take? What leadership style was employed? How well or poorly did the leader perform, and why? And, finally, to what extent--and how--did gender matter in each leader's performance? Genovese strives to use the discussion surrounding these case studies as a preliminary step toward building a theory on gender and leadership issues. Michael Genovese has assembled a fine collection of essays that cast new light on the experiences of women in top positions of national leadership. Women as National Leaders will make for provocative fare for courses in women and politics, political leadership, and comparative politics. --Bruce Miroff, State University of New York, Albany
Synopsis
This volume focuses on the careers of seven women who are, or have been, leaders of nations: Golda Meir, Isabel Per ac]on, Corazon Aquino, Violeta Chamorro, Indira Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto and Margaret Thatcher.
Contributors to this comparative study use case studies to examine critical issues including: context; biographical factors; the path to power; leadership style; and to what extent gender mattered in a leader's rise and performance.