What Can Feminism Offer Student Leadership Education?

Abstract

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.

GENDER VIOLENCE PREVENTION AS LEADERSHIP EDUCATION: Feminist-Inspired Bystander Training for College Student Leaders

“…While others have explored whether self-identified women and men engage differently with sexual assault prevention using bystander intervention methods(Burns et al, 2018), few of these prevention programs have been as expressly and overtly feminist and social-justice focused as the Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) program, one of the original yet understudied bystander programs that, unlike others, does not overtly eschew its feminist underpinnings (see discussion byKatz, 2018). Here, study findings suggest solid gains for student leaders when gender violence prevention is configured within a feminist-inspired leadership development model Iverson et al (2019). argue that a feminist perspective on leadership must assess whether a leadership education program builds leadership capacity and efficacy for women and students of color.…”

“…OCTOBER 2021 RESEARCH 88 education project-the Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) program-offers a practical application of a leadership educational approach through a feminist lens, a framework recently called for by Iverson, McKenzie, and Halman (2019) and one they argue better prepares students to be critically engaged with the central social issues of their time.…”

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This exploratory study examined the leadership education potential of sexual assault prevention training via a prevention approach that expressly constructs bystander education as a leadership issue. Evaluation of the Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) program offers a practical application of a leadership education approach through a feminist lens, a framework recently advocated by Iverson, McKenzie, and Halman (2019) to better prepare student leaders for active engagement with the central social issues of their time. After undergoing one-day MVP leadership trainings, student leaders (n = 239) evidenced positive gains in such areas as leadership readiness in gender violence prevention, confidence as bystanders, and a willingness to help others.

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Cheers and a Charge to the Journal of Leadership Education on Its 20th Anniversary

“…To be sure, this charge is not outside of the scope of JOLE's existing way of being -novel applications and theoretical explorations of leadership education have been in the journal's repertoire for some time. For example, articles that explore what feminism can offer student leadership education (Iverson et al, 2019), engaging nonnative English-speaking students in leadership education (Bourgeois& Bravo, 2019), confluences of student leadership and white privilege, and a conceptualization of leadership in communities experiencing generational poverty (Briscoe, 2022) move the needle towards exploring new (and old) questions in novel and inclusive ways. We encourage JOLE to continue to be a rigorous, creative, inclusive, and forward-looking outlet for the discipline of leadership education for years to come.…”

Autopercepciones en el ejercicio del liderazgo estudiantil en la Universidad de Granada

“…Por otro lado, en la literatura más reciente, encontramos las investigaciones de Coffey y Lavery (2018), la cual está relacionadas con cómo las escuelas intermedias desarrollan habilidades de liderazgo en sus estudiantes. Con respecto al género Iverson et al (2019) proponen en su estudio adoptar los principios del feminismo para preparar a los estudiantes a ser lideres comprometidos y orientados al cambio.…”