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This grounded theory study aimed to understand the process of leadership identity development experienced by traditional-aged female undergraduate college students. The findings led to a model for leadership identity development consisting of four phases. Students' leadership identity development progressed from views of leadership as external to self to positional leaders to incorporation of self-as-leader whether in a position or not. The final phase reflected a shift to leading for social change. In the early phases of the model, the female students in this study saw gender as irrelevant to them as leaders even though they recognized societal views of female leaders as weaker or less capable. In later phases they understood how being female mattered, and by Phase 4 they recognized a need to take a stand on societal issues related to gender and race. Research on college students and leadership has focused on specific models of leadership (e.g.

Given societal calls for transformational leadership that will lift people to higher levels of motivation and critical consciousness, this paper critiques existing student leadership education efforts and proposes that leadership educators adopt core tenets of feminism in order to prepare students to be engaged, change-oriented leaders in their communities. Today's literature on student leadership development places an over-emphasis on positional leadership, technical problems, and leadership competencies. Feminism can serve as a theoretical strategy for addressing these problems by considering the complexities of identity, re-conceptualizing power, amplifying student voice, and encouraging activism. In particular, we argue that consciousnessraising is essential for leadership development and offer ways in which it can be employed within leadership curriculum, among student leaders, and among leadership educators.

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