021. Positional power games and ‘feminist bureaucrats’ in multilateral organizations: Joanne Sandler's observations

Summary

How does Feminist Leadership  ‘perform’ when a leader has to make hard choices?

How well has feminist leadership served organizations during the past year of the pandemic-related crisis, or other periods of crisis?

What kind of worthy values and interests might ‘compete’ with those called for by feminist leadership, and how should leaders resolve this?

I discussed these topics during an interview with Joanne Sandler, senior associate at Gender at Work, and former leader at UN Women.

 Joanne's Bio

• Senior associate at Gender at Work, a consulting and training agency which works with organizations that wish to contribute to gender equality and to advance feminist leadership.
• Independent consultant
• Co-producer of podcast Two Old Bitches which captures the experiences of women over 50 who reinvent, reimagine, and rebel. 
• Former Deputy Executive Director at UN Women/UNIFEM
• Special advisor to assistant secretary-General of UN Women

 Quotes

“Sometimes you have to be willing to play the positional power game."

 We discussed: 

• The differences between ‘power over’ -  the traditional view on leadership --, ‘power with’ and ‘power to’: different ways of understanding power 

• The life of ‘femocrats’ - feminist bureaucrats in large multilateral organizations like the UN, World Bank, and WTO 

• Why hierarchical power intrinsically emphasizes inequality within organizations, and how to minimize this 

• How to use your privilege for the good of the broader organization and mission 

• What happens when the expectations about how leaders should behave, which come from national cultures, bump into expectations coming from feminist leadership models. And how an understanding of intersectionality and leading with purpose can help resolve this. 

 Resources

Joanne has co-authored a book named 'Gender at Work: Theory and Practice for 21st Century Organizations' which is available at several online booksellers, including this one.

Website: www.genderatwork.org 

Joanne’s LinkedIn profile

Gender at Work Podcast

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