PhD thesis,
Ways of knowing, ways of leading: Leadership development in women college students
Loyola University of Chicago, PhD Thesis, (2002)
Abstract
This multi-case study was designed to develop an understanding of how female college students come to know, make sense of, and view themselves as leaders. Two interviews were conducted with 28 traditionally aged (18–22 years old) women students from a large private coeducational university in Chicago to explore the linkages among women's ways of knowing, their views of leadership, and their understandings of themselves as leaders. The first interview was guided by a protocol grounded in Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger and Tarule's work, Women's Ways of Knowing to begin to understand how these women made sense of themselves as knowers. The second interview was focused on the students' views of themselves as leaders and explored their various leadership experiences. Transcripts were read and coded to determine common themes for each student. These common themes were compared and contrasted across all 28 students' first interviews to determine the women students' knowing stage. The next wave of analysis compared and contrasted the students' common themes in the second interview in order to determine how these women made sense of themselves as leaders and enacted their leadership. The process resulted in emergent themes regarding how women's ways of knowing potentially influence women's leadership development in college.
