Abstract
Increasingly, feminist linguistic research has adopted a discursive perspective to learn how women and men 'do' leadership in gendered ways. 'Women' as a social category is made relevant to this study by virtue of the lack of female senior leaders in UK businesses (Sealy and Vinnicombe, 2013). Much previous research has analysed leadership discourse in mixed gender groups, relying on theories that imply comparisons between men and women. Using an Interactional Sociolinguistic approach, this study aims to learn more about how women perform leadership in the absence of men by analysing the spoken interactions of a women-only team who were engaged in a competitive leadership task. The analysis reveals that the women accomplish leadership in multiple and complex ways that defy binary gendered classifications. Nonetheless, there is a distinctive gendered dynamic to the team's interactions which, it is argued, might be disadvantageous to women aspiring to senior positions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 23-39 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Journal | Discourse and Communication |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 24 Oct 2013 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Feb 2014 |
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Keywords
- discourse
- feminist linguistics
- gender
- interactional sociolinguistic analysis
- leadership language
- management team meetings
Cite this
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'If you had only listened carefully...' : the discursive construction of emerging leadership in a UK all-women management team. / Baxter, Judith.
In: Discourse and Communication, Vol. 8, No. 1, 02.2014, p. 23-39.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - 'If you had only listened carefully...'
T2 - the discursive construction of emerging leadership in a UK all-women management team
AU - Baxter, Judith
PY - 2014/2
Y1 - 2014/2
N2 - Increasingly, feminist linguistic research has adopted a discursive perspective to learn how women and men 'do' leadership in gendered ways. 'Women' as a social category is made relevant to this study by virtue of the lack of female senior leaders in UK businesses (Sealy and Vinnicombe, 2013). Much previous research has analysed leadership discourse in mixed gender groups, relying on theories that imply comparisons between men and women. Using an Interactional Sociolinguistic approach, this study aims to learn more about how women perform leadership in the absence of men by analysing the spoken interactions of a women-only team who were engaged in a competitive leadership task. The analysis reveals that the women accomplish leadership in multiple and complex ways that defy binary gendered classifications. Nonetheless, there is a distinctive gendered dynamic to the team's interactions which, it is argued, might be disadvantageous to women aspiring to senior positions.
AB - Increasingly, feminist linguistic research has adopted a discursive perspective to learn how women and men 'do' leadership in gendered ways. 'Women' as a social category is made relevant to this study by virtue of the lack of female senior leaders in UK businesses (Sealy and Vinnicombe, 2013). Much previous research has analysed leadership discourse in mixed gender groups, relying on theories that imply comparisons between men and women. Using an Interactional Sociolinguistic approach, this study aims to learn more about how women perform leadership in the absence of men by analysing the spoken interactions of a women-only team who were engaged in a competitive leadership task. The analysis reveals that the women accomplish leadership in multiple and complex ways that defy binary gendered classifications. Nonetheless, there is a distinctive gendered dynamic to the team's interactions which, it is argued, might be disadvantageous to women aspiring to senior positions.
KW - discourse
KW - feminist linguistics
KW - gender
KW - interactional sociolinguistic analysis
KW - leadership language
KW - management team meetings
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84893577444&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1750481313503224
DO - 10.1177/1750481313503224
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84893577444
VL - 8
SP - 23
EP - 39
JO - Discourse and Communication
JF - Discourse and Communication
SN - 1750-4813
IS - 1
ER -