Fresh Strategies for Empowering Women’s Leadership Development: Spirituality as an Untapped Tool

Abstract

Abstract Over recent decades, the underrepresentation of women in higher education leadership has continued to be problematic, even as the majority of students at all degree levels (associate through doctorate) are women. Long-standing assumptions about the effectiveness of the “pipeline theory”—that as greater numbers of women assume entry-level positions in the career pipeline, they will naturally move gradually toward higher leadership roles—have proven largely to be unfounded. Hence fresh strategies are needed that address the reasons that women are often hesitant or unwilling to pursue or assume top-level leadership roles. This article briefly reviews the leadership literature, which has been predominantly male-normed, and offers a response to the challenge issued in the literature that new and nuanced approaches to preparing the next generation of leaders must be envisioned and implemented if the unsatisfactory status quo is to be addressed. Viewing leadership as a platform for purposeful influence is linked to four aspects of spirituality that may be constructive in terms of enhancing women’s leadership aspirations while also providing support on their leadership journeys: (a) leadership to advance a meaningful purpose, (b) leadership as a response to a sense of calling, (c) leadership from the perspective of to “stewarding” gifts and strengths, and (d) leadership that honors relational responsibility.