Left Hand Rotation via Compfight
So I curate a Leadership Blog at a graduate school…
This means sometimes I write for it myself, and sometimes I find great guest writers who write for us or allow us to repost previously posted articles.
I scope out the inter webs for insightful and practical articles for anyone in a leadership position…from a small group leader, to a parent, to an influential thinker and writer, to a minister, to a business owner. Anyone who influences someone else is in a position of leadership.
[BTW-send me your links of leadership articles or pitch me your ideas. I’d love to have new voices posted at the Deeper Leader blog!]
There’s a lot of information out there, but there’s a big blind spot too.
I’ve noticed something. Not too many male leaders list women authors, leaders, and thinkers in their blogrolls or refer to them in posts. You don’t see that women influence them. What about Christian male leaders? It seems twice as bad.
Michael Hyatt’s “Intentional Leadership” blog is a favorite of mine. I LOVE it. But have you noticed that not one video on his homepage sidebar features a female leader? Does he even realize the omission? Should he maybe be more intentional on this part….I think yes!
(and so should I! I need to question who I read and why. I have a blind spot too.)
Let’s mind the gap.
As I prepare articles to begin announcing our 1st annual Women in Ministry: Conversations with Leaderships forum (June 12) I realize the glut. It’s massive.
So, what’s up?
• Is it that men don’t give it much thought? (an innocent blind spot that is likely borne of “male privilege“?)
• Is there a hidden bias or disregard for female leaders, and even among female leaders themselves?
and do men feel less manly if they read women authors? Any of that going on?
• Do men think, “Sure, I support women, but women leaders speak mainly to women and not to me”?
Let’s ask some hard and honest questions while at the same time not blaming, dividing and separating from each other. Let’s move the conversation forward!
I, for one, am going to assume the best from my male writers and friends. I’m going to put my trust and hope in the idea that if we bring the imbalance to greater attention and awareness maybe we can chip away at the disparity and both genders will be richer for it!
• What about you?
Are the top ten blogs or books you read written by a balance of men and women? If, so why or why not?
Are you taking the time to learn from someone else’s purview?
• How do we do better at offering others the chance to hear insights from the whole breath of the human species?
• What can we do about the blind spot?
LINK UP & Join Forces?
If you’d like to participate in the conversation, write an article and leave the link in the comments section. I’ll put the word out about your post too!
Andi Cumbo is tackling this and a few others. Will update soon!
I think part of the issue is that we think men are “authorities” and women aren’t, especially in topics like Leadership. Women’s authority, still, tends to be relegated mostly to “home” topics like marriage and child-rearing. Sad. And unjust. Thanks for starting this conversation, Lisa.
My thoughts are here – http://www.andilit.com/2013/04/23/female-writersmale-writers-who-do-you-read/
this gender imbalance has an extra theological layer/legacy in christian circles, but it’s apparent everywhere male is considered the “default” identity: movies/books with male leads are for the mass market, but ones with a female protagonist are “chick flicks/lit” for a niche women’s market–a classification that is inherently unserious and ghettoizing, unhelpfully lumping all “women’s stories” into one infantilizing catch-all category.
change takes eyes to see inequalities and ears to hear voices who are being silenced by a system favoring some over others (and not getting defensive about it!). it takes the willingness to lay down power and welcome perspectives and people who have been marginalized.
so very true.
I am guilty … However, I just haven’t seen the proper exposure by publishers and seminaries in this area. I just can’t remember many recommendations to read from female leaders during my seminary days, and I just don’t see a wide variety of theological writings by female authors yet offered. I will do better … and have been … I have been enthralled by theologians like Cherith Fee-Nordling and and practitioners like Jo Saxton. Oh yes, and I did participate in a class led by the innovative leader, Lisa Colon Delay recently :-)
I don’t really think about who I’m reading, whether they’re male or female. I just read what I like to read. I don’t plan it. If I see a book I want to read or a blog, I read it. Like I said over on Andi’s blog, I read The Time Travelers Wife a few years ago. I just ha
Oops…happen to like time travel stories. It didn’t matter to me that it was written by a woman. So, it’s the same with leadership blogs. If it’s written by a man or woman and I like it, I’ll read it. If I don’t, I won’t.
Thanks Jeff for your reply! (How many people can have the honor of their lead pastor spending time reading and responding to their writing? This is very dear to me. I appreciate it!)
In seminary I read quite a few women, so maybe things have changed and maybe professors are picking other-more diversified-materials too. Probably both to a degree. I graduated from the same place but about 8-9 years later I think.
Those women ARE out there. (A quick web tour of a few seminaries staff pages will show us this too, even in more traditionally male dominated ones.) The effort has to be made to seek them out and value what they do. The odds are vastly against them being read nearly as much for a whole bunch of reasons.
Larry,
I’m really thankful that you responded.
I think I feel the same way that you do, and I don’t tend to notice gender when I’m picking out reading material.
What I just noticed though was that when I started looking for women leaders/writers/authors on leadership, I couldn’t find too many. Where they getting a voice? It seemed no, even though there are tons of them out there. This imbalance, and even in my own reading preferences, surprised me. It was such a huge gap.
It made me want to question that. Ask a few “why” questions. Question it for my own reading list and put the question out there for others.
In truth, the female voices are there but not as visible. The same is truth for minorities. This means that I have to do some extra work to see who I might be missing out on, and when I can support and spread the news about my finds.
Some men still think that women are weak. That these women cannot completely lead a large group of people. Or some men think that it will make them less of a man if they give credit to women that influenced them.
Jane Goldner
female leadership