IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v173y2021i2d10.1007_s10551-020-04526-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Feminist Ethics and Women Leaders: From Difference to Intercorporeality

Author

Listed:
  • Alison Pullen

    (Macquarie University)

  • Sheena J. Vachhani

    (University of Bristol, Howard House)

Abstract

This paper problematises the ways women’s leadership has been understood in relation to male leadership rather than on its own terms. Focusing specifically on ethical leadership, we challenge and politicise the symbolic status of women in leadership by considering the practice of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. In so doing, we demonstrate how leadership ethics based on feminised ideals such as care and empathy are problematic in their typecasting of women as being simply the other to men. We apply different strategies of mimesis for developing feminist leadership ethics that does not derive from the masculine. This offers a radical vision for leadership that liberates the feminine and women’s subjectivities from the masculine order. It also offers a practical project for changing women’s working lives through relationality, intercorporeality, collective agency and ethical openness with the desire for fundamental political transformation in the ways in which women can lead.

Suggested Citation

  • Alison Pullen & Sheena J. Vachhani, 2021. "Feminist Ethics and Women Leaders: From Difference to Intercorporeality," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 173(2), pages 233-243, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:173:y:2021:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-020-04526-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-020-04526-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-020-04526-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-020-04526-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Munro, Iain & Thanem, Torkild, 2018. "The Ethics of Affective Leadership: Organizing Good Encounters Without Leaders," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(1), pages 51-69, January.
    2. David Knights & Majella O’Leary, 2006. "Leadership, Ethics and Responsibility to the Other," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 67(2), pages 125-137, August.
    3. Joyce K. Fletcher, 2001. "Disappearing Acts: Gender, Power, and Relational Practice at Work," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262561409, December.
    4. Jessica Nicholson & Elizabeth Kurucz, 2019. "Relational Leadership for Sustainability: Building an Ethical Framework from the Moral Theory of ‘Ethics of Care’," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(1), pages 25-43, April.
    5. Ciulla, Joanne B. & Knights, David & Mabey, Chris & Tomkins, Leah, 2018. "Guest Editors’ Introduction: Philosophical Contributions to Leadership Ethics," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(1), pages 1-14, January.
    6. Ciulla, Joanne B. & Knights, David & Mabey, Chris & Tomkins, Leah, 2018. "Guest Editors’ Introduction: Philosophical Approaches to Leadership Ethics II: Perspectives on the Self and Responsibility to Others," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(3), pages 245-250, July.
    7. Dawn Eubanks & Andrew Brown & Sierk Ybema, 2012. "Leadership, Identity, and Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 107(1), pages 1-3, April.
    8. Rhodes, Carl & Badham, Richard, 2018. "Ethical Irony and the Relational Leader: Grappling with the Infinity of Ethics and the Finitude of Practice," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(1), pages 71-98, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Brigitte Biehl & Katerina Schönfeld, 2023. "Writing differently with film: An animated video on gender, leadership, and language," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(5), pages 1611-1630, September.
    2. Kayla Stajkovic & Alexander D. Stajkovic, 2024. "Ethics of Care Leadership, Racial Inclusion, and Economic Health in the Cities: Is There a Female Leadership Advantage?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 189(4), pages 699-721, February.
    3. Mengyao Xia & Bangzhu Zhu & Helen Huifen Cai, 2023. "Does duration of team governance decrease corporate carbon emission intensity," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(3), pages 1363-1388, May.
    4. Valerie Stead & Sharon Mavin & Carole Elliott, 2024. "Angela Rayner (Member of Parliament) and the “Basic Instinct Ploy”: Intersectional misrecognition of women leaders' legitimacy, productive resistance and flexing (patriarchal) discourse," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 152-170, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Juliette Koning & Jeff Waistell, 2012. "Identity Talk of Aspirational Ethical Leaders," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 107(1), pages 65-77, April.
    2. Christian Garmann Johnsen, 2018. "Authenticating the Leader: Why Bill George Believes that a Moral Compass Would Have Kept Jeffrey Skilling out of Jail," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(1), pages 53-63, January.
    3. Randall G. Colton, 2020. "Modeling Leadership in Tolkien’s Fiction: Craft and Wisdom, Gift and Task," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 163(3), pages 401-415, May.
    4. Kishwar Sultana & Muhammad Nadeem Iqbal & Bilal Shabir & Nadia Batool, 2022. "Ethical Leadership and Teachers’ Job Performance at Secondary Level," Journal of Policy Research (JPR), Research Foundation for Humanity (RFH), vol. 8(4), pages 411-415, December.
    5. Alabi-Sessou Omobonike Adeola, 2022. "Exploring the Implication of Gender Balance and the Factors Affecting Women’s Attainment to Top Leadership Positions in Organization," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 6(4), pages 348-358, April.
    6. André, Kévin, 2013. "Why Should Business Education Care About Care? Toward an Educare Perspective," ESSEC Working Papers WP1315, ESSEC Research Center, ESSEC Business School.
    7. Jennifer Y. Kim & Alyson Meister, 2023. "Microaggressions, Interrupted: The Experience and Effects of Gender Microaggressions for Women in STEM," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(3), pages 513-531, July.
    8. Andreana Drencheva & Wee Chan Au, 2023. "Bringing the Family Logic in: From Duality to Plurality in Social Enterprises," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(1), pages 77-93, January.
    9. Ozgur Demirtas & A. Akdogan, 2015. "The Effect of Ethical Leadership Behavior on Ethical Climate, Turnover Intention, and Affective Commitment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(1), pages 59-67, August.
    10. Wee Chan Au & Siân Stephens, 2023. "I Am Not Just a Nurse: The Need for a Boundaried Ethic of Care in the Context of Prolific Relationality," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 186(3), pages 493-510, September.
    11. Haitham Nobanee & Fatima Youssef Al Hamadi & Fatma Ali Abdulaziz & Lina Subhi Abukarsh & Aysha Falah Alqahtani & Shayma Khalifa AlSubaey & Sara Mohamed Alqahtani & Hamama Abdulla Almansoori, 2021. "A Bibliometric Analysis of Sustainability and Risk Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-16, March.
    12. Hadar Gafni & Dan Marom & Alicia Robb & Orly Sade, 0. "Gender Dynamics in Crowdfunding (Kickstarter): Evidence on Entrepreneurs, Backers, and Taste-Based Discrimination," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 25(2), pages 235-274.
    13. Carl Rhodes & Robert Westwood, 2016. "The Limits of Generosity: Lessons on Ethics, Economy, and Reciprocity in Kafka’s The Metamorphosis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(2), pages 235-248, January.
    14. Aruna Ranganathan & Ranjitha Shivaram, 2021. "Getting Their Hands Dirty: How Female Managers Motivate Female Worker Productivity Through Subordinate Scut Work," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(5), pages 3299-3320, May.
    15. Xianchun Zhang & Zhu Yao, 2019. "Impact of relational leadership on employees’ unethical pro-organizational behavior: A survey based on tourism companies in four countries," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(12), pages 1-19, December.
    16. Ruthanne Huising & Susan S. Silbey, 2011. "Governing the gap: Forging safe science through relational regulation," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 5(1), pages 14-42, March.
    17. Helena Liu & Christopher Baker, 2016. "Ordinary Aristocrats: The Discursive Construction of Philanthropists as Ethical Leaders," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(2), pages 261-277, January.
    18. Chirag Dagar & Ashish Pandey & Ajinkya Navare, 2022. "How Yoga-Based Practices Build Altruistic Behavior? Examining the Role of Subjective Vitality, Self-transcendence, and Psychological Capital," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 175(1), pages 191-206, January.
    19. Alan Lawton & Iliana Páez, 2015. "Developing a Framework for Ethical Leadership," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(3), pages 639-649, September.
    20. Cameron Graham & Martin E. Persson & Vaughan S. Radcliffe & Mitchell J. Stein, 2023. "The State of Ohio’s Auditors, the Enumeration of Population, and the Project of Eugenics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 187(3), pages 565-587, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:173:y:2021:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-020-04526-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.