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Not Just 'Adding Women In': Women Re-Making Leadership, Amanda Sinclair

Amanda Sinclair

Why is it that so much of women’s contribution to public life has not been recognised as leadership? In this paper, I look at the construct of leadership itself, its history and recent popularity. Leadership has, in most cultures including Australia, been defined as something that men do. A performance of leadership and heroic masculinity are intertwined. Further, when women emulate male behaviours (even when they appear to do so successfully), they are not judged as leaders. This creates and has created profound problems for leading women in Australia. Highly visible and effective women in public life have been designated …